Along with the large-scale detection activities carried out by people, one piece of information was presented to Zhao Changxing.
People at this moment have confirmed that there is a smaller star aggregate not far from the human fleet. It is composed of about dozens of younger stars and interstellar molecular clouds that spread throughout the star field here.
Obviously, those dozens of young stars were formed due to the contraction and collapse of this interstellar molecular cloud. Moreover, some protostars are still being formed in this molecular cloud to this day.
It's a little strange that such a "stellar hotbed" exists near the edge of the Milky Way. At the same time, this existence that can barely be called a star cluster is too small compared to what people usually understand as a star cluster.
Not to mention globular star clusters, which are often composed of tens of thousands of stars, even open star clusters with a small number of stars usually contain hundreds to thousands of stars. And this star cluster only has a few dozen member stars.
But they actually have a gravitational relationship and are bound together by their mutual gravitational attraction. Therefore, although it is not very qualified, people can only call it a star cluster.
Although it is small, it is a real and energetic group of stars. With just simple observations, people saw huge and violent stellar winds, saw newborn stars radiating their energy wantonly to the outside world, saw many "star cores" being nurtured, and saw many gas giant planets. , rocky planets, etc.
Under the strong gravitational pull between each other, these planets cannot even have relatively stable orbits. People have seen that some planets are orbiting the main star in a weird orbit, as if they may break away at any time; some planets are simply in the process of breaking away, abandoning their old masters and rushing to the new masters. embrace. Some planets even have no fixed orbits at all. They are like independent celestial bodies, rushing through this relatively small star cluster that is also up to ten light-years in diameter.
In fact, not only the planets, but also the orbits of stars are extremely chaotic. This results in collisions between them sometimes. In just the initial observations, people found three blue supergiants that cannot be explained by ordinary stellar evolution theories.
This means that they are most likely formed by the collision and fusion of two or more lower-mass stars.
Dozens of stars, numerous rocky planets, gaseous planets, and a larger number of asteroids, dwarf planets, comets, etc., are moving chaotically under the huge interstellar molecular cloud, showing a strange and bizarre appearance. Interstellar wonder.
This is the closest star group to the human fleet. Not counting here, the nearest star is more than twenty light years away. At the speed of the human fleet, it would take hundreds of years to reach it. Moreover, to go to that star, its orbit also needs to pass through the star cluster closest to the human fleet.
It seems that heading to this cluster of dozens of young stars to find a suitable star system, settle down, and develop civilization is the only thing that can be done at the moment.
At this moment, the distance between the human fleet and the nearest star in this small star cluster is only about two trillion kilometers. At the current relative speed of about 2,860 kilometers per second, it would take about 22 years to reach it.
It was a brown dwarf—or star that failed to evolve. Its mass is too low, even less than a hundred times the mass of Jupiter. This mass is not even enough to start the fusion of hydrogen in the core, but can only maintain the fusion of deuterium. Compared with normal stars, its surface temperature is extremely low.
What is surprising is that even such a failed star has several planets around it. There are two rocky planets and two gaseous planets orbiting it.
Among the two rocky planets, one is slightly smaller than the Earth and the other is slightly larger than the Earth. Among the two gaseous planets, one is roughly equivalent to Jupiter, and the other is fully 4 times the mass of Jupiter. Compared with this brown dwarf, which is 27 times the mass of Jupiter, it is difficult to determine whether this is a pair of binary stars or a planet orbiting the star.
In addition, there are a large number of asteroids surrounding it.
There are no comets in this star system. The so-called comet is actually a kind of star in which an asteroid containing evaporable material evaporates when it approaches a star due to the radiation energy of the star, forming a tail behind it. In this star system, the brown dwarf that plays the role of the main star is too low in mass and its surface temperature is too low - less than 500K. It is really difficult to provide enough heat for the asteroids approaching it, so it Nor can a comet be created.
Out of some unspeakable vigilance, this brown dwarf, located at the outermost edge of the star cluster and the most inconspicuous compared to the other stars, has become the navigation destination of the fleet of human civilization.
Anyway, for a civilization at the level of human civilization, it doesn't matter whether there are stars or not, as long as there is enough matter. Without normal stars with strong radiation and abundant energy, maybe the interstellar environment would be better, and we wouldn't have to spend so much effort on radiation protection.
They come, the security. After confirming the destination of the star numbered G1, the entire fleet began to accelerate again. According to calculations, the human fleet will arrive in about six years.
During this period of time, almost all interstellar observation equipment that could be activated in the human fleet was activated. Human civilization is doing everything possible to learn as much as possible about this star cluster and this star.
During this process, some rather strange phenomena were observed.
On the planet around a certain blue giant star, people have observed irregular bursts of extremely high-energy gamma rays. And this cannot be explained at all in the physics system of human civilization.
Neutrino observations of a certain galaxy show that the galaxy emits far more neutrinos than normal, which cannot be explained by existing theories.
The atmospheric spectra of some planets show abnormalities, and there are some special substances that cannot be generated through normal natural changes. At the same time, flashes of light sometimes appear irregularly in some empty interstellar spaces, where there are no macroscopic objects at all.
The closer you get to this star cluster and the longer the observation time, the more anomalies like this are discovered.
And all of this points to a reality that makes people feel a little shocked and a little horrified.
"This is a very active cluster."
When making a report to the civilization leaders headed by Zhao Changxing, Professor Li Wenzhong said slowly in a slightly heavy tone: "This is not just in the physical sense, but also... in the civilization sense.
These numerous anomalies all point to the only explanation, which is that there are many intelligent life forms in this star cluster that possess a considerable degree of technology. Moreover, there is no peace between these intelligent life groups, but violent conflicts and wars often break out. Only in this way can all the abnormal physical phenomena we observe, such as changes in the structure of planetary atmospheres, abnormal flashes, abnormal radiation, etc., be explained. "
This speculation has been made a long time ago. But now, after long-term observation and collection by Professor Li Wenzhong and other scientists, we have finally obtained tangible evidence and can tell this matter with certainty.
Zhao Changxing looked calm and could not see any mood swings.
"Currently, our observation forces are still conducting further observations and trying to classify the intelligent life groups that exist in this small star cluster. However, the distance is still too far, the information is insufficient, and there is not much progress yet.
However, regarding the level of civilization and the level of science and technology, it can be roughly determined that the conflicts and wars unfolding in this small star cluster will be dominated by fusion bombs and anti-matter bombs. Of course, this may also be because the distance is too far and the details of more advanced weapons are not noticed by us. But in general, we have a certain degree of confidence that the intelligent life groups that exist here are mainly second- and third-level civilizations. "
There was a slight commotion in the conference room. A civilization leader said solemnly: "For primary civilizations such as the second and third levels, unless there is a generational difference between the strength of the civilization, the two civilizations tend to coexist peacefully and will try to avoid contact. I I’m very curious, why do so many second- and third-level civilizations crowd into this small star cluster instead of trying to leave?”
"Or...why are there so many civilizations gathered here?"
The answer is so obvious that everyone can easily think of it.
How did human civilization get here? It is highly likely that other civilizations got here too.
And this, in turn, means another thing: among the three possibilities of faster-than-light travel, the latter two can basically be denied.
Only the first possibility is left: there is a certain super civilization that consciously sent many low-level civilizations here.
It must have been done consciously by that super civilization. After all, the probability of encountering some special physical process or accidentally breaking into the ruins is too low. It is barely possible for a civilization to encounter this kind of thing, but so many civilizations have encountered this kind of extremely low probability?
This doesn't make sense.
"Perhaps, we shouldn't go to this star cluster. We should choose other targets as our base."
Faced with this suggestion, Zhao Changxing whispered: "We can think about why so many civilizations have to 'crowd' here instead of leaving and going to a wider world."
