Traveling to the stars always seems so exciting. In the movies at least it involves lots of dramatic

whooshing noises, there's some strengths of light, exotic planets to visit, and probably

dramatic meetings with aliens. You also noticed in those movies everybody's always well-rested,

a walk-ever-wear-with-a-purpose, and they're wearing a well-fitting uniform and everybody

seems to be in great shape. I don't know about you, but that's not like any travel experience

that I've ever had. Realistically, a trip to the stars is more likely to involve tired

people eating junk food and shopping at duty-free stores. It probably resembles the experience

of a cruise ship more than a trip on the Star Trek Enterprise. So load up on the buffet

because we're going to Alpha Centauri.

I'm Daniel, I'm a particle physicist, and you're listening to the podcast, Daniel and

Jorge explain the universe. Brought to you, but I heart-ready. Jorge is still a way,

he's my friend and collaborator and usual co-host of this podcast in which we zoom all

around the universe and try to find interesting, amazing facts and talk to you about them

and explain them to you so that you really understand them. So they're not just words

that you hear coming out of your mouth to try to impress your friends, but actual concepts

in your mind that you can manipulate and talk about with intelligence.

And today we're going to do more than just zoom around the universe. We're going to talk

about how we're going to zoom around the universe. And if you're like me, you like

looking up at the stars and imagining what it's like to be over there. What would it be

like to orbit that other star? Are there planets over there? Could you put your foot on

them? And I think there's a natural human desire to explore, to see other parts of the world

and other parts of the universe. Well, the problem is that the universe is big, frustratingly

...