Earth-massed planet in Proxima Centauri's Goldilocks zone detected

[Grey_Wolf_c]

So, rumors were true: a planet (http://www.universetoday.com/130419/eso-announcement-address-reports-proxima-centauri-exoplanet/) is believed to exist in Proxima Centauri's Goldilocks zone, of approximate Earth mass, believed to be rocky.

And at only 4 LY, it would not be SF to send ships there within a human lifetime.

Now, I remember reading that Proxima Centauri was "too young" to have rocky planets; usually mentioned in conjunction with Civ space colonisation ending. Anyone knows what the reasoning was behind that, and do we need to reconsider it?

Grey Wolf

[Binks]

Never heard that Proxima was too young for planets, and I'm almost certain that's not true since it's estimated age is basically the same as the Sun's (https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0307/).

It is, however, a Red Dwarf with a habitable range very close to the star, so any planet there is probably tidally locked. Even if it's basically the same composition as Earth, being tidally locked to a much smaller star that puts out most of its light in the infrared band would make the planet a very different place.

Very cool news. Here's hoping for some effort to be put into a probe at least, though that seems unlikely given how little people seem to care about space discoveries these days...

[Yora]

Guess this decides where we'll be sending our first deep space probe then.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Guess this decides where we'll be sending our first deep space probe then.

Probes, I believe it would be. The idea being to send a bunch of "cheap" ones that can then establish a telegraph-like chain of signal reception and re-emission, since a 4 LY long signal is a bit tricky to manage.



I've been trying to remember where I heard about chances of planets around Proxima Centauri, and I think it might have been Contact, instead? Not sure if the book or the film, but isn't that where the alien signal comes from, and initially it is thought it can't be because of the age of the star? Now it's going to bug me all day.

GW

[Spojaz]

And at only 4 LY, it would not be SF to send ships there within a human lifetime.

Yeah, it would. The fastest manmade object, the Juno probe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(speed)) at 140000 kph or 0.00023 c, would take thousands of years to get there. Unless you are talking about human immortality not being SF, that's just wrong.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Yeah, it would. The fastest manmade object (the Juno probe at 140000 kph or 0.00023 c (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(speed))) would take thousands of years to get there. Unless you are talking about human immortality not being SF, that's just wrong.

Solar sails using current tech can reach .2c, according to these guys (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot). Getting the money to build them is of course the issue, but the technology exists.

GW

[Spojaz]

Solar sails using current tech can reach .2c, according to these guys (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot). Getting the money to build them is of course the issue, but the technology exists.

GW

A power source+antenna+camera+perfect solar sail+computer weighing "a few grams" that can produce a strong enough signal to be heard 4LY away with the resolution to "potentially capture an image of high enough quality to resolve surface features", while moving at relativistic speeds is a ludicrous definition of "using current tech". Single atom transistors probably don't respond well to the 50,000g's of thrust or the inescapable heat from 100 gigawatts of laser either.

That said, it's the most feasible space exploration tool I've ever seen proposed.

[factotum]

It is, however, a Red Dwarf with a habitable range very close to the star, so any planet there is probably tidally locked. Even if it's basically the same composition as Earth, being tidally locked to a much smaller star that puts out most of its light in the infrared band would make the planet a very different place.


There's also the issue that Proxima is a flare star, so any life that somehow managed to evolve on a planet orbiting it would have to be able to withstand periodic bursts of much greater radiation than the star normally puts out, especially in the X-ray region of the spectrum. If the planet is tidally locked, maybe there would be a zone just on the night side of the terminator where enough warmth seeps through from atmospheric movement for life to form, but said life would be shielded from the flares? No idea if that's even possible.