How will we avoid traveling through forming stars?
I grew up in the 1960s, when the USA was in the "space race" with the Soviet Union. Space travel, science fiction books, films, etc. had really become the rage. I was fascinated with it all, and still am.
But the reality of space travel, even to my 10-year-old mind, seemed unrealistic. The distances between - everything - is just too great to even fathom. Alpha Centauri is the closest star to us at 4.2 light years away. Light years. We are just now attempting to discover planets there.
The other challenge to my little mind is the dangerous stuff in the Universe we have to avoid traveling through. Sure, it is fun to imagine zipping around galaxies like the Star Ship Enterprise, but the speed necessary to get anywhere would require someway of "seeing" problems in your path. You sure do NOT want to travel through a baby star:
The only science fiction books I recall that kind of addressed this issue is in the Duneseries. The Spacing Guild found a way to navigate "folded space," which allows "the Spacing Guild's heighliner ships to instantaneously travel far distances across space without actually moving at all."
My inspiration to write this post came from the article: "James Webb Telescope: Baby star launches giant jets and shocks." Stunning images, but the immensity of the universe boggled my mind.
As Captain Kirk says, "Warp speed, Mr. Sulu."
