Posted on 10/12/2016 4:21:18 PM PDT by BenLurkin
In August of 2016, the European Southern Observatory announced that the nearest star to our own – Proxima Centauri – had an exoplanet. Since that time, considerable attention has been focused on this world (Proxima b) in the hopes of determining just how “Earth-like” it really is....
This is largely due to the fact that Proxima b orbits a red dwarf. Typically, these low mass, low temperature, slow fusion stars are not known for being as bright and warm as our Sun. However, a new study produced by researchers at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has indicated that Proxima Centauri might be more like our star than we thought.
For instance, our Sun has what is known as a “Solar Cycle“...
Proxima Centauri has its own cycle, but one that is a lot more dramatic than our Sun’s. Besides lasting 7 years from peak to peak, it involves spots covering over 20% of its surface at one time. These spots are apparently much bigger than the ones we regularly observe on our Sun as well.
...
This was surprising, given that Proxima’s interior is very different from our Sun’s. Because of its low mass, the interior of Proxima Centauri is convective, where material in the core is transferred outward. In contrast, only the outer layer of our Sun undergoes convection while the core remains relatively still. This means that, unlike our Sun, energy is transferred to the surface through physical movement, and not radiative processes.
While these findings cannot tell us anything directly about whether or not Proxima b might be habitable, the existence of this solar cycle is an interesting find that might be leading in that general direction.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
When do we go. I can be packed in 10.
Wearing it now.
I’ll be at the curb.
No wait...gotta vote for Trump first...
Baa haaa. I needed that laugh.
We're not sure what is at the center of the Earth, nor what lies deep in the seas, nor where oil comes from, but we know what the interior of Proxima Centauri is made up of and how it works.
Actually we have a pretty good handle of what’s the composition of the earth’s core. Seismic studies give a very good idea. Seismology works pretty well or you wouldn’t have gasoline at your local pump. Core dynamics harder problem. We have explored the deepest ocean trenches with both manned & unmanned submersibles - Marianas Trench 36,000 feet. First explored in 1960 by Don Walsh & Jacques Pickard in the submersible Trieste. Oil - petroleum has a biological origin and I am willing to concede the possibility of an abiotic origin for some petroleum.(Read the “Hot Deep Biosphere” by The late Dr Thomas Gold) After all there are complex methane and “other organic” gas clouds in space. The conclusions on Proxima’s interior are I imagine based on changes in the wavelengths in the star’s spectrum that are mathematically consistent with passing through those interior layers much like sound waves from earthquakes, dynamite, nuclear weapons or a Vibroseis pass through the earth’s interior layers - crust, mantle, core, etc. (But I admit I have not read the article!) So its a sort of stellar seismology model used to make those conclusions.
I used to do seismology back in a day when my hair was brown & not grey.
I miss doing that type of work.
Liberals, if you want a planet to live on, try this planet...you can live as you want...
This topic was posted , thanks BenLurkin.
This topic was posted , thanks BenLurkin.
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