Posted on 06/12/2023 7:40:42 AM PDT by McGruff
A nearby exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of a star just 4.2 light-years from Earth may be home to a vast ocean, boosting its chances of supporting life. Since its discovery, questions about the conditions at the surface of Proxima b have been swirling; the planet’s mass is just about 1.3 times that of Earth’s, and the red dwarf star it circles is similar in age to our sun.
Studies over the last few years, however, have both bolstered hopes of its habitability and shot them down. Now, a new study has once again raised the possibility that Proxima b could support life, suggesting that under the right conditions, the exoplanet could sustain liquid water.
“The major message from our simulations is that there’s a decent chance that the planet would be habitable,” Anthony Del Genio, a planetary scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told LiveScience.
Since its discovery, questions about the conditions at the surface of Proxima b have been swirling; the planet's mass is just about 1.3 times that of Earth's, and the red dwarf star it circles is similar in age to our sun. Artist's impression
In the study published this month in the journal Astrobiology, the researchers ran what are said to be the first climate simulations of Proxima b with a dynamic ocean. The planet is thought to be tidally locked with its star, Proxima Cent
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.thespaceacademy.org ...
Practically next door
8:05 PM · Jun 11, 2023
Might as well be 4 billion light years..................
X-O Planet Ping!.....................
Watch out for the mindworm boils.
“Highly Habitable...” until leftists get a hold of it. Then it will be a “highly inhabitable $hitHole planet”
‘Habitable’ is a word from our lexicon. It likely has little if any meaning with regard to ETs.
Probably not habitable:
Though red dwarfs have advantages such as their sheer numbers and longevity, some factors may make life difficult on planets orbiting a red dwarf.
Generally, planets that are situated in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star would need to very close to it, and thus the planet would most likely be tidally locked.
This means that half of the planet would experience perpetual day, while the other, perpetual darkness. This would inevitably lead to enormous temperature variations.
Such conditions would make it difficult for forms of life to evolve, especially if they are similar to the ones we know about. Another problem would be the atmosphere since most of it would be frozen, and leave the other side bare and dry.
Variability in stellar energy output may also have negative impacts on the development of life. Red dwarf stars are often flare stars, which can emit gigantic flares, doubling their brightness in minutes.
Such variability would certainly make it difficult for life to develop and persist near a red dwarf star. Some new studies suggest that all red dwarf stars may have this trait, if this is proven to be true, chances for life to develop on planets near them, are low to zero.
[ if you like living in gloom and love high radiation, this is the planet for you! ]
https://nineplanets.org/red-dwarf-star/
“...suggesting that under the right conditions, the exoplanet could sustain liquid water.” You don’t say...
Voyager I has been moving away for 45 years and is just over 18 light-minutes distant. or about 1/1600th of the distance to Proxima.
Going to need something faster than chemical rockets.
Or it may not.
If you’re looking for a new frontier to inhabit, the Moon and Mercury and Mars are much closer.
If you’re looking for alien life, you should recognize that “habitable” and “inhabited” are quite different things.
A billion leftists pack up, ready to move, blast off.
When they get there in a hundred years or so, they find a planet immersed in climate change paranoia and a population in the billions. And signs: Yankee Go Home!
VOYAGER 1 has travel approximately 14 billion miles over the last 45+ years.
This planet is only 24 trillion miles away.
Better find a way to put folks in sleep chambers or to breed rather prodigiously during the trip and self-sustainable deep space farming. If that happened, I’m sure someone would start complaining about women’s reproductive rights along the way and the whole thing would end up being a waste of time.
There is current technology that once implemented could increase speeds enough to get us there in 40-100 years.
The travel brochures are never reliable.
If it’s highly habitable it probably already is inhabited by advanced giant insects, spiders and huge worms and they all like to eat humans.
I'm of the opinion that most technologically advanced civilizations take their civilization underground where they're somewhat protected from the vagaries of cometary impacts, gamma ray bursts, etc.
Mars Underground maybe makes sense. I think Earth's might already be taken. Not but us...
Send a self-piloting drone ship with a program to explore the entire surface of the planet and send the data back to Earth...........
We sent out two machines in the late 70’s. They travel about 50,000 mph.
They are now out there a distance of 3/4 of a light DAY, about 1/400th of a light year.
So when they say a planet is near, fugeddaboudit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.