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Earth Space Science

Earth-Like Planet, With Ambitious Life Possibility, Found Orbiting the Star Next Door (nature.com) 218

Posted by msmash from the another-earth dept.
There's another Earth out there. For real, this time. Astronomers announced on Wednesday that they had detected a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest neighbor to our solar system. Intriguingly, the planet is in the star's "Goldilocks zone," they said, a place that hints that it may not be too hot nor too cold. Which in turn means that liquid water could exist at the surface, and by extension, it raises the possibility of life. Nature reports:"The search for life starts now," says Guillem Anglada-Escude, an astronomer at Queen Mary University of London and leader of the team that made the discovery. Humanity's first chance to explore this nearby world may come from the recently announced Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which plans to build fleets of tiny laser-propelled interstellar probes in the coming decades. Travelling at 20% of the speed of light, they would take about 20 years to cover the 1.3 parsecs from Earth to Proxima Centauri. Proxima's planet is at least 1.3 times the mass of Earth. The planet orbits its red-dwarf star -- much smaller and dimmer than the Sun -- every 11.2 days. "If you tried to pick the type of planet you'd most want around the type of star you'd most want, it would be this," says David Kipping, an astronomer at Columbia University in New York City. "It's thrilling."Much about the planet is still unknown. Astronomers have some ideas about its size and distance from its parent star. Scientists say they are working off computer models that offer mere hints of what's possible. Also, there's no picture available for this planet as of yet.
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Earth-Like Planet, With Ambitious Life Possibility, Found Orbiting the Star Next Door More

Earth-Like Planet, With Ambitious Life Possibility, Found Orbiting the Star Next Door

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  • Ooh. I've seen this one. (Score:4, Funny)

    by dgatwood ( 11270 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:03PM (#52763741) Homepage Journal

    Ooh. I've seen this one. They send a probe, and it turns out that it's just a giant, curved mirror with a red filter.

  • Buy today! Build the vacation or retirement home of your dreams! X-ray protection not included.

  • Light years (Score:5, Insightful)

    by michelcolman ( 1208008 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:04PM (#52763759)

    Why use parsecs if you can call it 4.2 light years, making the calculation of the travel time a lot simpler?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by backslashdot ( 95548 )

      It's because we want starships to go there. They don't measure the kessel run in light years do they? Why measure this?

    • I personally would have rather seen the measurement in Olympic swimming pools or football fields...

    • Astronomers use parsecs because they have a clear definition based on a physical, measurable distance. When you say light year you have to specify what a year is (there are several kinds, some change over time). In many cases it does not matter and light years are sufficiently accurate given the distance uncertainty and they are more intuitive.

      • The parsec has only had a clear definition since august 2015 [wikipedia.org]. Turns out there are several different ways of measuring the distance of the earth to the sun (aphelion, perihelion, averaged over time, averaged over some other variable,...), and more or less practical ways of defining parallax.

        The exact definition of a light year, meanwhile, was fixed in 1984 [wikipedia.org]. It's simply the distance covered by light in vacuum in 365.25 days (a julian year), a day being defined as 86400 seconds and a second being defined in fu

        • This raises a question: Why do astronomers use irregular units like "light years" and "parsecs" instead of the SI units and prefixes used in every other scientific discipline? Is it just a matter of custom, like the use of English(-ish) units in the U.S.? The SI units would not be any more awkward to work with, and would avoid the need for complex conversions:

          distance from Earth to the Sun (1.00 AU) = 150 Gm (gigameters, G=10^9)
          distance to Proxima Centauri (1.3 parsecs) = 40. Pm (petameters, P=10^15)
          estim

          • Why do astronomers use irregular units like "light years" and "parsecs"

            I can't remember the last time I read an astronomy paper (NB : paper, not regurgitated shit in the popular press) which didn't use parsecs and/or AU as the primary description of astronomical distance (with , M-Earth and M-Sol in the mix). For parsecs, the reason is simple : what you measure when establishing distances is parallax, in seconds of arc. Hence PAR-SEC. No?

            If converting to metres, then you need to factor in your estimate for

        • Actually, I remember when the change to a speed-of-light based definition of the second came out, replaing the outmoded definition based on the hyperfine transition of blah-de-blah. It was in the mid-1980s and I was reading the commentary in 'Nature' in the library.

    • Because it ties in nicely with other common units, such as the attoparsec.

  • "Another Earth" (Score:5, Funny)

    by npslider ( 4555045 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:06PM (#52763773)

    Population: All children
    *** WARNING: Grups (Adults) are not advised to visit this planet

    Life Expectancy: Depends on how old you are upon arrival.

  • 1.3 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:06PM (#52763777)

    Travelling at 20% of the speed of light, they would take about 20 years to cover the 1.3 parsecs from Earth to Proxima Centauri. Proxima's planet is at least 1.3 times the mass of Earth.

    1.3 and 1.3 There are '3's - a Trinity! It's obvious that God wants us to go there!

    Now, we just need a spaceship that can fly to Proxima Centauri in less than 1.3 parsecs! It's be our Kessel Run!

    And we can have a whole generation that confuses distance with velocity just like mine did!

    Like the velocity of Gravity here on Earth is 9.8 meters per second per second because we stutter when we type that.

  • I don't get it. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ecuador ( 740021 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:08PM (#52763791) Homepage

    Astronomers announced on Wednesday

    Wednesday is today. ???
    I don't think this is acceptable as slashdot news, please pull it and post again in a couple of days. Twice.

    • Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Funny)

      by npslider ( 4555045 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:28PM (#52763933)

      This is the second post. The first story was published last Wednesday. It's quite common for Slashdot to publish stories BEFORE they happen.

      The majority of Slash users only see the second post, and falsely accuse the site for lagging behind. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jrumney ( 197329 )

      I don't think this is acceptable as slashdot news, please pull it and post again in a couple of days. Twice.

      Calm down, I remember reading about this story 2 weeks ago in MSM, so while it is early for Slashdot, it is not so early as to cause panic.

  • Ambitious Life (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:17PM (#52763853)

    I'm glad there's a possibility that the life on Proxima B is ambitious. It's so sad when interstellar aliens have no drive or purpose.

  • Next rocket flight... (Score:3)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:18PM (#52763867)
    That title reads like a real estate ad to get Millennials to move there.

  • Sterilized long ago (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:20PM (#52763881)
    A planet this close to the star will be tidally locked, resulting in blast furnace heat on one side and near absolute zero cold on the other. There also will be gargantuan amounts of UV and radiation from flares, rendering this planet a barren wasteland and unfit to support any type of life.
    • So what you're saying is that there should be bands of temperate zones sandwiched between these two extremes, which might be an excellent place to focus the search for life? Possibly with very interesting life indeed, due to the adaptations needed to cope with the extreme radiation, along with the increased likelihood of genetic mutation from the same. This guy is optimistic [wikipedia.org]

      • No. We might as well not even look. Obviously the astronomers that are working on this don't know as much as our AC here and have neglected to ask the most basic questions of the planet.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Atryn ( 528846 )

          No. We might as well not even look. Obviously the astronomers that are working on this don't know as much as our AC here and have neglected to ask the most basic questions of the planet.

          Maybe the planet was built to give us The Question.

    • But what about the transitional zone? Some where between the hell and the freezer surely there be would be a narrow temperate zone.

    • gargantuan amounts of UV and radiation from flares, rendering this planet a barren wasteland and unfit to support any type of life

      Kinda sounds like New Jersey, and that's full of... oh, wait. I see what you mean. Never mind.

    • You are not one person who has conclusively answered all these questions which scientists are debating. It may or may not be tidally locked. The magnetic field may or may not be too weak to protect the atmosphere. Tidal locking with a strong atmosphere does not result in absolute zero temperatures any more than months without light in the winter in polar regions of Earth does. The radiation from flares may or may not be an issue for life which will presumably evolve in the ocean (which offers substantial ra

  • Next door would be only 4.2 light years away (or 24 trillion miles from Earth - give or take a few dozen billion miles)

  • Good neighbors (Score:3)

    by codeButcher ( 223668 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:36PM (#52763987)

    Right Next Door. Run over and borrow a cup of sugar, will ya. Else you won't be gettin' no starship cookies tonight.

  • Perhaps This Will Get Habex Funded (Score:5, Informative)

    by crunchygranola ( 1954152 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:37PM (#52763991)

    Those relativistic postage stamp sized probes are a dream at present. Long before we could develop the technology for this, or get funding, we will study this planet with the advanced space-based instruments with capabilities far beyond anything now existing. No probe will be sent until we reach the limit of what we can do within our own solar system - nothing is faster than analyzing the light that already gets here, and even the most extravagant telescopic system will be cheaper than the probe project and all its supporting infrastructure.

    That leads us to consider the HABEX Mission [nasa.gov] a pretty cool project under development using the huge and really cool looking Starshade vehicle [northropgrumman.com] to provide a coronagraph for a telescope in a separate vehicle thousands of kilometers away. Having a nearby target like this gives leverage with Congress to appropriate the funds.

  • Well ain't that neat (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wjcofkc ( 964165 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:45PM (#52764029)
    When we first started exo planet hunting the possibilities of red dwarf stars and their potential to harbor life was a topic due to so many of their qualities that I don't think I need to cover in this community. Over time astrophysicists, including Dr. Tyson, shed considerable doubt on this possibility saying that a planet orbiting a red dwarf star close enough to have liquid water would by default also be so close that the levels of radiation would prohibit the formation of complex organic molecules.

    Did I miss a revision to that over the last decade or something?
    • proxima centauri b is expected to be in tidal lock with its star. that is, half of the planet is expected to have more than enough radiation shielding. whether or not there is atmospheric or oceanic convection to have reasonable temperatures on that half is the next question that needs to be answered.

  • Don't get your Hopes Up (Score:5, Informative)

    by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @03:54PM (#52764077)

    It MIGHT be habitable. It MIGHT have an atmosphere. It MIGHT have water.

    Chances are, it's actually tidally locked. One side gets daylight all the time and the other... well... it doesn't. It probably has had it's atmosphere stripped away. If it has water then it will all be frozen on the dark side (water evaporates on the hot side and gets locked as ice in the dark side).

    Theoretically it could be a hot, but livable (except for being arid) 30C average on the light side and cold (but livable) -30C average on the dark side. Theoretically there is a comfortable zone half way in the transitional area. Don't get me wrong, this is by far our best chance at extra-solar life so far- but odds are you couldn't board a spaceship with a tent and some potatoes and start living there tomorrow as a farmer.

    Definitely a great place to send a probe if we ever get the technology.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by myrdos2 ( 989497 )

      odds are you couldn't board a spaceship with a tent and some potatoes and start living there tomorrow as a farmer.

      Also, it's very far away.

    • If you looked at planet Earth, and new how planet earth worked, you knew that 'on the dark side' the temperature drops between -60 to -90 degrees celsius.
      There is no way that a tidal locked planet has -30 degrees on the dark side.

    • It's a Mighty Planet, so you should expect a lot of mights!!!

  • The main problem with Breakthrough Starshot as currently envisioned, besides the difficulty of having a small probe return data at interstellar distances, is it has no way of decelerating as it approaches a target. Even if we can get past the dust abrasion problem and if we can deploy the huge space lasers, Starshot's minimal probe is going to rip through the Proxima Centauri system at 20% of c. At that speed, there will not be much of an opportunity to see anything as the local Oort cloud shreds it to deat

    • At that speed, there will not be much of an opportunity to see anything as the local Oort cloud shreds it to death.

      1% of c, 10%, 20%... isn't it toast if it hits anything at pretty much any speed? It's less dense (ours is, anyway) than the asteroid belt and we just send probes right through that without many cares.

    • Yes, you are 100% correct, and there is no reason to even debate it. This whole "Breakthrough Starshot" baloney is a waste of time. Even typing the words "Breakthrough Starshot" uses energy and time that I could have used more productively nearly any other way possible.

  • With Ambitious Life Possibility

    Has the submitter recently left a job crafting endearingly mis-translated fortune cookie texts?

  • We can't get to it anytime soon.
    Unless the EM-drive can scale up we have no propulsion system that will get us there within a reasonable timeframe (1 lifetime), we're currently talking about a 1000-year trip, which is impossible, we can't build anything that will last that long.

    Unless there's some kind of breakthrough (Warp drive, 4th dimensional slips, tesseract), in our ability to to deal with vast distances, we haven't got a prayer.

  • There's another Earth out there. For real, this time.

    Uh-huh. For real.

    FTFS:
    -it may not be too hot nor too cold
    -maybe liquid water could exist at the surface
    -much about the planet is still unknown
    -astronomers have some ideas about its size and distance from its parent star
    -scientists are working off computer models
    -there's no picture available for this planet as of yet.

    Sounds like a dead certainty that we've found another Earth.

  • Good news, we're headed there already! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Gavagai80 ( 1275204 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @06:38PM (#52765235) Homepage

    We're presently approaching the Proxima Centauri system at 22.4 km/s, which is significantly faster than any spacecraft we've launched (New Horizons was about 15 km/s). Unfortunately we won't be headed that way forever, closest approach will be 3.11 light years in 26,700 years. Perhaps we can take maximal advantage by launching an interstellar mission in the year 28,716. Assuming no new administration comes along to alter NASA's priorities, we should be ready in time if we start preparing now.

  • Proxima Centauri is a flare star, and being randomly zapped with x-rays is not usually conducive to life.

  • Not sure why there are so many open questions about this find - I just finished reading "Proxima" by Stephen Baxter, and he described it pretty thoroughly... it's a red dwarf star which means the Goldilocks planet is tidally locked. But there's enough atmosphere to keep heat circulating, thus there is liquid water in the warm areas. A relatively simple but well-developed ecosystem exists including a reasonably intelligent species dubbed the Builders who live in harmony with the other plants and animals -

  • I dub the "Nemesis".

    (Issac Asimov fans know, and *daaaammmm* he was eerily bang on.)

  • Kinda like all the planets you find in No Man's Sky. Radioactive and barren.
  • I've read elsewhere that Proxima b that it has been calculated that the average temperature there is -40C. (which wikipedia seems to confirm) And yet the same article I'd read said that liquid water was possible, and hence, life was possible as well. By comparison; I think the average surface temperature of Earth is 16C. So, if there is liquid water on Proxima b, then it must be in a pretty slender equatorial zone.

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