Chapter 25: Finally reaching Proxima Centauri and discovering civilization

In the past 283 years, the virtual world "Shenqi" has added a top monk in the God Transformation Period, a famous white-robed sword master in the world, a black-robed wizard living in a high tower, a silver-armored knight leading thousands of troops to fight, a wise king who swept across the world, a top assassin hidden in the darkness, the chief adventurer in the Adventurer Association, a magician who can summon thunder, a brave man who kills dragons, and a high priest who evokes the power of ancient totems...

Everything is real and illusory.

Yan Xia got rid of all this when he opened his eyes.

"It's been a fulfilling 283 years."

Compared to the past, when hundreds of years passed in a sleep without knowing why, it is much more meaningful to spend these wasted time in the virtual world.

He sat up, and white air began to come out of his nostrils and mouth.

The 283-year-old robot standing next to the hibernation capsule spoke: "The liquid in the hibernation capsule will evaporate at a temperature of more than 50 degrees, turning from liquid to gas."

"This will help to expel the body."

"Welcome back, Yan Xia."

Looking at the robot in front of him, Yan Xia felt a huge gap.

After all, the Ella in the virtual world was so well-behaved, cute and coquettish.

Yan Xia ignored Ella and left the hibernation capsule, then put on his clothes and walked towards the cockpit.

"Yan Xia, why don't you answer me?"

"Have you become tired of me after being together for so long?"

"Or did the liquid damage your vocal cords?"

"..."

Ella followed him and kept asking questions, obviously she knew everything.

With Ella's current intelligence, it is easy to infer that Yan Xia just doesn't want to pay attention to it.

It's just that Ella did not choose that answer, but made a decision that was more inclined to humans-keep asking questions.

Entering the cockpit, the screen has played what Yan Xia wants to see.

Two huge stars, one is slightly larger than the sun and has a spectrum similar to that of the sun, which is also nearly golden yellow, and the other is slightly smaller than the sun and is orange-yellow.

These two stars are the "Alpha Centauri binary stars", Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B.

Arriving here means that they have entered Centaurus at the same time.

Proxima b is not a planet of any star in this binary system, and Yan Xia's target is now under the light of the two stars.

It is a red dwarf star with only 12.2% of the mass of the sun. It revolves around the center of mass of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. This star is called Proxima Centauri, or Alpha Centauri C.

To put it in the context of the scene Yan Xia is looking at at this time, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B are rotating hand in hand in the middle of the playground, while Proxima Centauri is running around them in the playground, but this playground is closer to a circle.

The distance between the two large stars is only 23 astronomical units, which is equivalent to a star in the solar system that is in orbit between Uranus and Neptune.

Proxima Centauri is 0.2 light years away from the center of mass of the two stars. It has three companion stars, namely Proxima b, Proxima c and Proxima d.

Among them, Proxima c is a huge rocky planet with a mass seven times that of the Earth, but it is 1.5 astronomical units away from Proxima Centauri.

This distance is just right for Proxima in the solar system, but as a red dwarf, the surface temperature of Proxima Centauri is too low, only 2800 degrees Celsius, far lower than the 6000 degrees Celsius of the sun.

Therefore, the temperature on Proxima c is as low as -230 degrees Celsius, almost the same as the surface temperature of the Hundred Eyes. If there is no abundant geothermal heat, it is estimated that it will be difficult to form civilization.

Although Proxima d ranks low, it is actually the closest planet to Proxima Centauri, less than 5 million kilometers away. It only takes one and a half years to build a railway and take the high-speed rail of the early 21st century to reach the surface of Proxima Centauri.

Its surface temperature may be close to 100 degrees Celsius, especially since its mass is only 26% of the Earth, which is too small and difficult to form civilization.

Only Proxima b is in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star system of Proxima Centauri. It is the most suitable planet for human survival and the most suitable planet for the birth of civilization.

"Let's stop here."

Yan Xia did not intend to reach the surface of Proxima b directly.

After all, it is not certain whether there is civilization on it.

"Send a falcon to investigate. Be sure to be secretive and do not approach the surface of the planet."

If a planet has an advanced civilization, there will be many buildings on its surface, which can be seen with a high-magnification telescope.

"Ella, analyze Proxima b. What do you think is the probability of the birth of civilization on this planet?"

Planets like the Hundred Eyes can give birth to a level 1 civilization.

Then the probability of this planet, which is extremely suitable for the birth of life, is at least 10,000 times that of the Hundred Eyes.

"13.72%."

"Proxima b is 1.52 times the size of the Earth when we observe it from a close distance, which is larger than originally predicted."

"Such a mass creates a thicker atmosphere. Although it is too close to Proxima Centauri and is tidally locked, one side of it is too cold and the other side is too hot."

"But the atmosphere can distribute the heat more evenly on the surface of the planet, allowing the entire planet to share the heat. This leads to the predicted front temperature of Proxima Centauri to be only 46 degrees Celsius and the back temperature to be -82 degrees Celsius."

"The average temperature in its twilight zone is about 10 degrees Celsius, which is most suitable for survival."

"Plus, the eccentricity of Proxima b is only 0.17, and the orbital resonance ratio is only 3:2, which is generally stable. The probability of the birth of civilization on its surface may be higher than this probability."

In a word, it is very high.

The Falcon flew for 12 days, crossed a distance of 57 astronomical units, and finally was only 4 astronomical units away from Proxima b.

Here, the head of the Falcon reconnaissance aircraft began to peel off, and a telescope with a diameter of 3 meters was aimed at Proxima b. It took 3 days to take the first ultra-clear photo of Proxima with 70 trillion pixels.

After another 19 minutes, Hope received the photo.

After processing, Ella enlarged the photo to the maximum.

On the dark side of Proxima b, a large number of light spots occupied it evenly.

Yan Xia felt his scalp tingling instantly.

If each light spot is equivalent to a building complex, then the development level of Proxima is too high.

"Falcon sent back the second photo."

Ella spoke at this time and released the second photo, which was Proxima c.

There was also a lot of light on Proxima c.

At this time, it was completely certain that the civilization level on Proxima b was no less than level 1.

"Ella, check all interstellar dust within 10 AU around, and send reconnaissance aircraft to 30 AU to ensure that there are no warships of this civilization."

"All warships are ready to activate the defense system and enter combat mode."

"Take back the falcon, don't act rashly."

"The entire fleet will remain silent for 1 month to ensure that the civilization on Proxima has not discovered us."

A series of orders were issued.

Yan Xia must be cautious. They have observed the civilization on Proxima, and they must also anticipate that the civilization on Proxima may have observed them.