After a ship malfunction leads to the death of the captain, members of the starship Unity break into factions, hindering plans for building peaceful human civilization on their new planet.

As our closest stellar companion and composed of two Sun-like stars and a third small dwarf star, Alpha Centauri is an ideal testing ground of astrophysical models and has played a central role in the history and development of modern astronomy—from the first guesses at stellar distances to understanding how our own star, the Sun, might have evolved. It is also the host of the nearest known exoplanet, an ultra-hot, Earth-like planet recently discovered. Just 4.4 light years away Alpha Centauri is also the most obvious target for humanity’s first directed interstellar space probe. Such a mission could reveal the small-scale structure of a new planetary system and also represent the first step in what must surely be humanity’s greatest future adventure—exploration of the Milky Way Galaxy itself. For all of its closeness, α Centauri continues to tantalize astronomers with many unresolved mysteries, such as how did it form, how many planets does it contain and where are they, and how might we view its extensive panorama directly? In this book we move from the study of individual stars to the study of our Solar System and our nearby galactic neighborhood. On the way we will review the rapidly developing fields of exoplanet formation and detection.

A century has passed since events of "Alpha Centauri #2: Dragon Sun." Civilization is braced for final reckoning. Science and faith collide as the fanatical Believers of Sister Miriam vie with the technological might of Prokhor Zakharov in a merciless war of destruction. Five besieged factions join the battle against Miriam's zealots as the planet Chiron prepares itself for a new era.

A growing rebellion beneath the surface of the planet Chiron threatens Sheng-ji Yang's dreams of immortality. Meanwhile, Lady Deirdre Skye's life is in jeopardy as the Planetary Council withholds vital supplies, and orders her to turn over research data on the life force awakening on Chiron's surface. Though an ocean apart, Yang and Skye seek an alliance to overcome the forces arrayed against them.

Set eighty years in the future, this novel by the best-selling author Michael O'Brien is about an expedition sent from the planet Earth to Alpha Centauri, the star closest to our solar system. The Kosmos, a great ship that the central character Neil de Hoyos describes as a "flying city", is immense in size and capable of more than half light-speed. Hoyos is a Nobel Prize winning physicist who has played a major role in designing the ship. Hoyos has signed on as a passenger because he desires to escape the seemingly benign totalitarian government that controls everything on his home planet. He is a skeptical and quirky misanthropic humanist with old tragedies, loves, and hatreds that are secreted in his memory. The surprises that await him on the voyage-and its destination-will shatter all of his assumptions and point him to a true new horizon. Science fiction and fantasy literature are genres that have become dominant forces in contemporary worldwide culture. Our fascination with the near-angelic powers of new technology, its benefits and dangers, its potential for obsession and catastrophe, raises vital questions that this work explores about human nature and the cosmos, about man's image of himself and where he is going-and why he seeks to go there.

As the crew of the starship Mother Nightembarks on a colonizing mission to relieve Earth of the ever-growing population, a terrorist plague is unleashed on the ship, and as their journey ends, an ancient relic awaits them--one that can provide hope and redemption or cause the destruction of humankind. Reprint.

This strategy game comes through with brand new decisions to make, new technologies, and new elements that subtly enhance the basic premise of the Civilization genre. The new features include custom military units, terraforming, a new government model, and the alien landscape itself.

A robot probe using newly developed Alcubierre warp drive technology has returned from the Alpha Centauri system, revealing the existence of two Earthlike planets. A multinational expedition is launched to land on and explore these worlds, but political intrigue and natural disasters threaten the mission . . . and what they find may threaten Earth itself.

In "The Ark", Ricardo Gonz�lez shares attractive and extraordinary information that was revealed by beings from other worlds: Humankind is preparing to leave the Earth and look for a new home in space. These human astronauts will travel to the region of Alpha Centauri and in the future, their descendants will come back. These are the "extraterrestrials" who visit us today.”” The timelines of both stories are intertwining, and it is from there that an urgent message emerges: we are "them," and we have to work together to modify critical events of the future. This fantastic book presents this warning and the evidence that a project to go to Alpha Centauri has already begun.

Offers test-taking tips along with practice tests for the math and science portion of the test, along with explanations for the correct answers.