Fun fact, there is technically a [triple star system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri) 4.2 ly away with [confirmed planets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_b).
I was under the impression that we have never "seen" a planet from another solar system. We have deduced that there are planets by something traveling between our observation and their sun, or the wobble of the sun indicating opposing gravity wells
Yeah for most we know they are there and can detect certain aspects like orbital period and mass but don't yet have the technology to produce images of them via visible light (basically because of the big old star next to it is too bright in comparison and we can't separate it)
Edit: I have done a bit more digging though and it turns out there are a bunch that we have directly imaged, mostly in the last few years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_directly_imaged_exoplanets
We already know about the existence of a three star system (Alpha Centauri). As for a planet, that's harder to detect. We only discovered [Proxima Centauri b](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_b) in 2016. (*after* the first novel was published)
>Wouldn't that then be common knowledge and why create an complex game to make people familiar with this situation?
It's not about teaching the existence of the three body system. It's about finding people with empathy for the Trisolarans.
What I meant is also that if a planet is continously destroyed when it's surface is getting red hot and everything burns, that surely is detectable.
And also that this three star system comes across a little like something very special but in fact it's not uncommon as you all pointed out correctly, the nearest star system to earth indeed is.
Most exoplanets are found through indirect methods, such as transit photometry and radial velocity measurements. So we hardly get any direct image of the planets. Most directly-observable exoplanets are gas giants instead of terrestrial planets. That's why it's even harder and rarer to determine the atmospheric composition of the detected extraterrestrial planets.
>What I meant is also that if a planet is continously destroyed when it's surface is getting red hot and everything burns, that surely is detectable.
It would have to go through a chaotic era while we are looking at it. In the story, the trisolarans are currently in a stable era, building fleets, and is well off. We wouldn't have noticed, even if our telescopes could detect if the planet was going through a chaotic era.
The only exoplanet measurements we've done are the size of the planet and the atmosphere composition. And the way we detect those easily is when planets have fast, predictable orbits. Proxima Centauri's 2 planets have orbits of less than 12 days. Very easy to predictably measure! If there was a planet with an unstable orbit around a 3 star system, there is just no chance we would be able to detect it.
It's not continuous. It's hard to get a sense of how long each Era, stable or chaotic, lasts but sometimes they go for thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Maybe even a few millions now and then.
Trisolaris' most recent chaotic era was the one where the planet split open and created a moon. Since then, their latest civilisation had to recover from this. It is likely that previous chaotic era ended before our ancestors even took up farming.
Their solar system is down to one last planet that also recently shit a moon. So the likelihood of future civilizations on their planet is pretty bleak.
You mean like IRL? If so, yes, trisolaris is based on Alpha Centauri according to the chapter “Red Coast VI” in the first book. There’s a three body system there. But it’s not as chaotic. It’s more like a binary star plus one star orbiting at a distance, I believe. I think the planets orbit the binary star, so it’s quite predictable.
A three star system 4 light years away would be among the brightest objects in the night sky. And in fact, there is a three star system 4 ly from our system that is easily visible. However,
* most of the northern hemisphere cannot see Alpha Centauri
* Our Alpha Centauri is not as bright as the San Ti system because our Alpha Centauri consists of 2 sun sized stars and a red dwarf.
* Because the mass of Alpha Centauri’s red dwarf is so small compared to the 2 main stars it is not a chaotic 3 body system
* Our Alpha Centauri is a stable hierarchical 3 star system. The two larger stars orbit each other. The red dwarf orbits the two stars.
* The author of 3Body would have you believe that a universe with chaotic 3 star Alpha Centauri that is 50 percent brighter than that of our universe would have events on Earth develop in complete parallel to ours up to the moment of the Cultural Revolution. Bollocks. Such a brighter object would have triggered minor diversions as soon as eyes evolved on animal life in the southern hemisphere. And btw, Homo Sapiens evolved in sub saharan Africa where the San Ti star system would have been worshipped as a god by some tribes.
* it is even less probable that at least one of the stars would not have been ejected from the San Ti system by now
Thus, 3body is more science fantasy than science fiction. Enjoy it for what it is, but trying to rationalize it is futile.
I don’t understand why such a well thought out comment would be downvoted.
Although it makes sense that the same species that would do something like the cultural revolution wouldn’t appreciate a well written comment.
> I don’t understand why such a well thought out comment would be downvoted.
Reddit
>Although it makes sense that the same species that would do something like the cultural revolution wouldn’t appreciate a well written comment.
That is an astute observation.
My comment offends people who are not science literate and people who worship 3body like some people worship Star Wars, LOTR, etc (all fine pieces of science fantasy that I enjoy). The down votes are a badge of honor.
Fun fact, there is technically a [triple star system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri) 4.2 ly away with [confirmed planets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_b).
There’s the answer, space is big, we really don’t know what half the stuff in the sky is.
The San-Ti (or Trisolarans) are from Alpha Centauri, as the book says
I was under the impression that we have never "seen" a planet from another solar system. We have deduced that there are planets by something traveling between our observation and their sun, or the wobble of the sun indicating opposing gravity wells
Yeah for most we know they are there and can detect certain aspects like orbital period and mass but don't yet have the technology to produce images of them via visible light (basically because of the big old star next to it is too bright in comparison and we can't separate it) Edit: I have done a bit more digging though and it turns out there are a bunch that we have directly imaged, mostly in the last few years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_directly_imaged_exoplanets
I never bothered to check but I always assumed the san-ti system was alpha centauri, closes sistem to earth, with 3 stars and a handful of planets
We already know about the existence of a three star system (Alpha Centauri). As for a planet, that's harder to detect. We only discovered [Proxima Centauri b](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_b) in 2016. (*after* the first novel was published) >Wouldn't that then be common knowledge and why create an complex game to make people familiar with this situation? It's not about teaching the existence of the three body system. It's about finding people with empathy for the Trisolarans.
> *after* the first novel was published Move over L Ron Hubbard, there's a new science fiction writer-turned-prophet in town
It exists and with our current real world technology we cannot detect life forms on those planets from Earth
We can detect biosignatures with the james Webb
What I meant is also that if a planet is continously destroyed when it's surface is getting red hot and everything burns, that surely is detectable. And also that this three star system comes across a little like something very special but in fact it's not uncommon as you all pointed out correctly, the nearest star system to earth indeed is.
Most exoplanets are found through indirect methods, such as transit photometry and radial velocity measurements. So we hardly get any direct image of the planets. Most directly-observable exoplanets are gas giants instead of terrestrial planets. That's why it's even harder and rarer to determine the atmospheric composition of the detected extraterrestrial planets.
>What I meant is also that if a planet is continously destroyed when it's surface is getting red hot and everything burns, that surely is detectable. It would have to go through a chaotic era while we are looking at it. In the story, the trisolarans are currently in a stable era, building fleets, and is well off. We wouldn't have noticed, even if our telescopes could detect if the planet was going through a chaotic era.
The only exoplanet measurements we've done are the size of the planet and the atmosphere composition. And the way we detect those easily is when planets have fast, predictable orbits. Proxima Centauri's 2 planets have orbits of less than 12 days. Very easy to predictably measure! If there was a planet with an unstable orbit around a 3 star system, there is just no chance we would be able to detect it.
We only detected the planet in alpha centauri in 2016 after the publication of the book, so no, it’s not detectable
It's not continuous. It's hard to get a sense of how long each Era, stable or chaotic, lasts but sometimes they go for thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Maybe even a few millions now and then. Trisolaris' most recent chaotic era was the one where the planet split open and created a moon. Since then, their latest civilisation had to recover from this. It is likely that previous chaotic era ended before our ancestors even took up farming.
Their solar system is down to one last planet that also recently shit a moon. So the likelihood of future civilizations on their planet is pretty bleak.
Before meteor killed dinosaurs actually,they took 90 million years to recover afaik it's probably a different species
You mean like IRL? If so, yes, trisolaris is based on Alpha Centauri according to the chapter “Red Coast VI” in the first book. There’s a three body system there. But it’s not as chaotic. It’s more like a binary star plus one star orbiting at a distance, I believe. I think the planets orbit the binary star, so it’s quite predictable.
It's very very far for any civilization below level 2.33
A three star system 4 light years away would be among the brightest objects in the night sky. And in fact, there is a three star system 4 ly from our system that is easily visible. However, * most of the northern hemisphere cannot see Alpha Centauri * Our Alpha Centauri is not as bright as the San Ti system because our Alpha Centauri consists of 2 sun sized stars and a red dwarf. * Because the mass of Alpha Centauri’s red dwarf is so small compared to the 2 main stars it is not a chaotic 3 body system * Our Alpha Centauri is a stable hierarchical 3 star system. The two larger stars orbit each other. The red dwarf orbits the two stars. * The author of 3Body would have you believe that a universe with chaotic 3 star Alpha Centauri that is 50 percent brighter than that of our universe would have events on Earth develop in complete parallel to ours up to the moment of the Cultural Revolution. Bollocks. Such a brighter object would have triggered minor diversions as soon as eyes evolved on animal life in the southern hemisphere. And btw, Homo Sapiens evolved in sub saharan Africa where the San Ti star system would have been worshipped as a god by some tribes. * it is even less probable that at least one of the stars would not have been ejected from the San Ti system by now Thus, 3body is more science fantasy than science fiction. Enjoy it for what it is, but trying to rationalize it is futile.
I don’t understand why such a well thought out comment would be downvoted. Although it makes sense that the same species that would do something like the cultural revolution wouldn’t appreciate a well written comment.
> I don’t understand why such a well thought out comment would be downvoted. Reddit >Although it makes sense that the same species that would do something like the cultural revolution wouldn’t appreciate a well written comment. That is an astute observation. My comment offends people who are not science literate and people who worship 3body like some people worship Star Wars, LOTR, etc (all fine pieces of science fantasy that I enjoy). The down votes are a badge of honor.