On: US scientists find potentially habitable planet near Earth

[gagi]

Before I came here, I did my own brief (and likely inaccurate) calculations:

Distance to Gliese 581 g: 21 light years Speed of Helios 2 (fastest manmade object in space) = ~ 241350 km/h Time for Helos 2 to reach Gliese 581g ~= 93 907 years

I couldn't help but think of Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot". 93 thousand years is an awful long time. I'm glad I'm wrong.

[pavel_lishin → gagi]

But the Helios probes aren't constantly accelerating.