Discovery Of Potentially Earth-Like Planet Proxima B Raises Hopes For Life

[6Foot2]

Link: Discovery of potentially Earth-like planet Proxima b raises hopes for life

 

...The search for life outside our solar system has been brought to our cosmic doorstep with the discovery of an apparently rocky planet orbiting the nearest star to our sun.

 

Thought to be at least 1.3 times the mass of the Earth, the planet lies within the so-called “habitable zone” of the star Proxima Centauri, meaning that liquid water could potentially exist on the newly discovered world.

 

Named Proxima b, the new planet has sparked a flurry of excitement among astrophysicists, with the tantalising possibility that it might be similar in crucial respects to Earth...

[dcwhitworth]

Not that hopeful. Because Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf the habitable zone is very close to the star, which means the planet is likely tidally locked. So one side blazing hot, the other freezing cold. Also a planet's magnetic field is related to its spin, so such a planet would likely have minimal or no magnetic field which would also mitigate against earth-like features.

[CAM]

The chances of finding a planet with all the right elements to sustain life is infinitesimal at minimum. That makes finding just one of the requirements an exciting prospect, two even more so.

[dcwhitworth]

We really don't understand the odds at all as far as life is concerned. The last few decades have radically altered many of our perceptions on life and planetary systems. Life seems to be able to survive in conditions much more hostile than we first thought, but on the other hand our solar system seems to be rather out of the ordinary in terms of its development and configuration. We are refining the odds on life surviving and developing but we're still no nearer on understanding the odds of it starting in the first place. Edited August 31, 2016 by dcwhitworth

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Finally! I knew Sid Meier was actually a prophet!

 

Who says Alpha Centauri wasn't a vision of the future!