Where was Alpha Centauri?

[Githyanki]

Where was Alpha Centauri about a million years ago? Was it anywhere near Earth? If now, what was the closet stars like back then?

[antoniseb]

We had a thread like that a few weeks ago. The short answer is that the precision of our knowledge of radial velocities and proper motion and distance of all the stars in our neighborhood is good for maybe 20,000-50,000 years as to which star is closest. A million years to way too long.

[Githyanki]

So AC3 wasn't anywhere near Sol-system a million years ago. Wish I knew which star was...

[antoniseb]

In ten years or so, you may have a better idea, but why do you care about 1 million years ago in particular?

[Githyanki]

It's a good time for a human-species, homo erectus, to be transported to an alien world by aliens and evolve into their own form of human-species. If Alpha Centauri was no were near Earth at the time, it will do me no good to have them there.

Edit: I would like to know the specific star that was. This is more of an anthropological story than anything else. I don't think they'll evolve into an advanced civilization.

[danscope]

You can write anything you want in science fiction . Just tell us what you are doing .

[antoniseb]

... I would like to know the specific star that was. This is more of an anthropological story than anything else. I don't think they'll evolve into an advanced civilization.

Following up on what danscope said. The star closest to us at that time is probably about 100-200 light-years away from us right now. If we assume that it was a red dwarf (by far the most common type of star), you can safely assume it is a star with no name, just one or more catalog numbers. So you can just make it up. Pick a constellation that the Milky Way goes through, such as Cassiopeia, Cygnus, or Sagittarius, as a plausible place for it (but actually, it could be in *any* direction from here), and write your story. It sounds entertaining.

[Githyanki]

I know about science-fiction license to write about anything, but I like my work to be based on some facts. Like the fact E.Eridandi has one Jupiter-like world and could have a primordial earth-like world as Earth was 800MY after it's formation or that T.Ceti is 10MY old and has a large Oort cloud, which would mean most terrestrial worlds would probably resemble Mars but with a lot of comet craters and less chance of an Earth-like world.

The story has a Cthulhuian aspect in which humans were brought to pre-cambrian Earth-like world as food, but escaped or the alien-civilization collapsed a million years ago and more Cthulhuian aliens arrived 25,000YA with homo-sapiens; however, the first humans have since evolved to survive on this harsh world and are different.

[chornedsnorkack]

There are articles on searches for stars that passed Solar System in past or future, with aim of discovering effects like Oort cloud perturbations. They do look as far as 10 million years to past and future, and expect the peculiar motion to be predictable that far. They do complain that the data of Hipparcos survey are incomplete, but it mostly affects dimmer stars - distant and fast moving red dwarfs that pass in far future or past. So for a specific period of 1...2 million years ago, the data should be better, especially for brighter stars.

One author with a number of works is Garcia-Sanches. Like
http://www.rssd.esa.int/Hipparcos/ve...oster05_21.pdf

I have seen more thorough articles by Garcia-Sanches, with detailed tables and graphs, but cannot quickly find them again in accessible form. I also have hears of another author on the topic, named Bobylev.

Can someone provide links to these more detailed works, to pin down the interesting stars of solar neighbourhood 1 Myr ago?

Another I found is:
http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/b.../1/98-1008.pdf
but it is incomplete:
EDITOR: PLACE TABLE ?? HERE.

[astromark]

Where was Alpha Centauri about a million years ago? Was it anywhere near Earth? If now, what was the closet stars like back then?

... and later we learn the OP was really looking at a work of fiction and just wants to be sort of real..

I understand this idea and must fess up to once thinking it could be a reality..

but not a popular one or one I still hold.. or even would talk to much of...

but I will just sneak in the thought that one of the major religions is sort of and not really the said alien race

and 'Created' humanity in there image... so to speak... but No.

I turned my back on this idea about thirty seconds after it came at me.. and why...

BECAUSE its not science

and 'they' left.. and took this idea with them... which is good a ?

... and please, oh please DO NOT take anything I just said as real... ITS NOT.

Thats the good thing about works of fiction.. You do not actually expect anyone to hold it up as real..

[chornedsnorkack]

Another I found is:
http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/b.../1/98-1008.pdf
but it is incomplete:
EDITOR: PLACE TABLE ?? HERE.

On closer examination, the tables and figures were found at the end of the article.

How about HD351880?

[Githyanki]

Not totally for fiction; I am interested in ancient astronomy and like the fact our ancestors had the variable Algol star as the brightest star at night on Earth about eight million years ago and the fact our cybernetic-overlords will have to deal with Gliese 710 disturbing the Oort clouds and creating a third late heavy bombardment.

HD351880 is interesting. An F-class star would change things; I just have to find it's age.