>>2 OK... So my thinking here was that we'd be sending a probe. You know, unless there are volunteers for a one-way mission to die in space after seeing maybe one or two fairly uninteresting stars. With that in mind, here we go:

This probe is going to very quickly be beyond the point at which communicating with it at all is the least bit useful (so we can't send updates). It's going to have to be artificially intelligent to a high degree to be able to aim itself over time. It just seems like there's a possibility that if we're the least bit off with our earth-based observations, we're going to expend a lot (as in all) of our fuel in making corrections on our approach.

On the other hand, if we end up missing our target (or crash into it or hit Ptolemy's spheres on the way or whatever) it would still teach us a great deal about the flaws in our current understanding of astronomy... so win-win?