Half a month later, the expeditionary fleet passed by the young star very smoothly. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The star's magnetic field is very active, with periodic flares occurring from time to time, and the stellar winds ejected from it form a bubble-like presence in the interstellar cloud near her, extending outward by nearly 29 astronomical units, about the distance between Neptune and the Sun.

After comprehensive calculations, the expeditionary force research team concluded that the star has at least 10 billion years of life, and she is still only in her infancy. It is indeed a goal that is very suitable for human civilization to carry out interstellar development.

The expeditionary force continued to move forward, and the entire fleet soon flew away from the young star system, and the scientific research and resource development fleet was also sent back.

......

Time flies, and another 20 years have passed.

The 10 space carriers, the main body of the expeditionary fleet, have finally completed the acceleration process, reaching a final speed of 9.91 times the speed of light (the speed of light in three-dimensional space) and smoothly entering the stable flight phase.

During this time, the expeditionary fleet passed through two other star systems, a binary system consisting of a pair of K-type orange dwarfs, and a red dwarf galaxy.

Due to the gravitational battle between the two orange dwarfs, the expeditionary fleet found that there was literally nothing inside the entire binary star system except for interstellar dust. The scientific team speculated that the original planets in the binary star system may have been thrown out of the sky during the battle between the two stars, just like the Transformers' planet Cybertron, which became wandering planets in the world.

Therefore, the expeditionary fleet did not make any stay for this binary star system, because it is absolutely impossible for cosmic life to exist here, and it is not suitable for the current human civilization to settle down.

As for the red dwarf, the expeditionary force's scientific team did spend some time studying her.

At least 70% of the stars in the universe are red dwarfs. Red dwarfs are low-temperature, reddish dwarfs with a surface temperature of 2,500 to 5,000 K. They are also the least massive stars, generally only 7~50% of the mass of the Sun, and not even as large as Jupiter in the solar system.

Of course, from a human perspective, these red dwarfs are still big guys. Red dwarfs are not bright and cannot be observed with the naked eye, which means that humans cannot see any red dwarfs in the night sky. Even with advanced telescopes, we can only observe nearby red dwarfs. For example, Proxima Centauri magnitude.

Because red dwarfs consume extremely slow fuel before their demise (Note 1), their average lifespan can reach 1~10 trillion years.

Compared with the more than 10 billion years of life in the universe, no red dwarf has grown to old age, and the trillions of red dwarfs existing in the universe are just a group of babies.

In this red dwarf galaxy, the expeditionary fleet has observed two rocky planets, but neither of them is a habitable planet, at least not to give birth to a life form of the human type.

One of the two rocky planets is very close to the red dwarf, and the other is relatively far away.

Because red dwarfs burn at relatively low temperatures, planets can only get enough heat when they are very close to red dwarfs.

A rocky planet in the galaxy is close enough to a red dwarf, but at such a distance it can cause all sorts of troubles and serious consequences.

First of all, the planet will not be able to rotate. If you get too close to a red dwarf, the red dwarf's gravitational pull will stir up the lava inside the planet, eventually causing the planet to stop rotating, a process called tidal friction. This will result in only one side of the planet forever facing the red dwarf and the other side forever night, with no day or night. Half fire, half ice caves, such an extreme environment would make it more difficult for life to evolve.

Secondly, getting close to the star can also be devastated by strong stellar winds, and although red dwarfs usually have low luminosity, they still produce stellar winds. It would be difficult for a planet so close to a red dwarf to defend itself against stellar winds at such a close distance, and life would be mercilessly slaughtered. Moreover, even if there was liquid water in the planet, it would gradually be lost.

However, things are not immutable, and Hara has a different view on the model of the birth of life on red dwarfs: "Even if the planets are tidally locked by red dwarfs, it cannot completely prevent the birth of life. If there are large enough oceans on the planet, it may be possible to equalize the heat given by the stars, bringing a degree of stability before the oceans are completely evaporated. If the planet has a thick atmosphere, or a deep sea protective layer, it can block the strong ultraviolet radiation emitted by red dwarfs. In fact, planets with extreme orbital environments are more conducive to the evolution of life. Because of the extremely long lifespan of red dwarfs, the planets around them may have existed for nearly 10 billion years, and if there is cosmic life on the planets, then they may even be more advanced than the life born on Earth. ”

However, the planet in the near-orbit of this red dwarf star obviously does not have an ocean or atmosphere, so it is indeed a purgatory that is half blazing and half freezing three feet.

In view of scientific research, the expeditionary force still sent a scientific research fleet to the red dwarf galaxy, which is not suitable for cosmic life, but it is also suitable for human civilization to carry out interstellar development.

......

When the expeditionary force flew about 510 light-years away from the Sunrise Galaxy, the scientific team finally made its first major scientific breakthrough.

In a super laboratory of the Scientific Research Institute of the Expeditionary Force, a number of scientists are staring straight at a sophisticated piece of equipment. In this precision machine, a tiny, regular-looking nickel-iron alloy is floating in a magnetic field.

"Let's get started!" Scientific Commander Don Quixote said with a serious face, wearing goggles. Yuan Haochen stood aside and watched without saying a word.

"Yes!" The scientists carefully flipped the switch.

"Buzz~Buzz~"

The experimental system shows that the electromagnetic field is violently amplified, while the strong interaction force is rapidly weakened.

Although it is difficult to observe with the naked eye, everyone present can imagine the picture: in the microscopic world, electromagnetic forces and strong interacting forces are staging a fierce confrontation.

"Suddenly~Suddenly~Suddenly~"

The monitoring system showed that among the precision equipment, the regular-looking nickel-iron alloy quickly melted, and the reading of the energy detection instrument instantly climbed to a terrifying level.

Not only is the nickel-iron alloy vaporized in a powerful energy field, but even the protons and neutrons in the atoms are all separated into quarks.

Countless quarks permeate every atomic space, and in the process, the monitoring system keenly captures a portion of the ultraviolet values.

"The quarks collided in the process of motion, and a portion of the photons were produced at the same time as the energy level jumped." Don Quixote continued to command. "Convert the relative strengths of two force fields, the strong interaction force and the electromagnetic force!"

"Yes!"

The moment the researchers just flipped the switch, the quark, which was in a pervasive state in the microscopic world, exploded in an instant. Countless violent impacts continued to occur in the microcosm, and the originally diffuse quarks recombined into protons, neutrons, and then into the two simplest elements in the universe, hydrogen and helium.

Throughout the collision, intense energy is continuously released.

"It worked!! It worked!! ”

"The iron-nickel alloy decays into hydrogen and helium with a 38% mass loss. According to the mass-energy equation, all these lost masses are converted into high-energy photons, neutrinos and other particles......"

All the scientists cheered excitedly, and even Yuan Haochen couldn't hide his joyful smile.

......

Just as everyone was cheering and celebrating, a hundred thousand urgent news entered Yuan Haochen's instant messaging system.

"Leader! We received a faster-than-light electromagnetic signal from the front of the fleet! There is a remarkable regularity in this signal, and it is certainly not cosmic noise! ”

ps: Working overtime today, so there is only one shift, thank you for your support and understanding.

Yuan Allen said

Like all stars, the hydrogen nuclei inside the red dwarf turn into helium, but when the star accumulates all the fusion into helium into the core, convection remains within the red dwarf, meaning that hydrogen and helium continue to mix together.