News Archive / Tagged: Proxima Centauri

• Third planet found orbiting Proxima Centauri

  Laurel KornfeldFebruary 22nd, 2022

  Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Sun, may host a third planet that has just 25% the mass of Earth, according to a new study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

• New Horizons parallax project seeks public participation

  Laurel KornfeldFebruary 21st, 2020

  NASA’s New Horizons mission is seeking public participation in a project aimed at imaging the two closest stars, Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359, from Earth on April 22 and 23, the same day the spacecraft will photograph them from almost five billion miles (eight billion km) away.

• Stellar radiation may preclude Earth-like atmosphere on Proxima b

  Laurel KornfeldAugust 3rd, 2017

  The exoplanet closest to the Solar System, Proxima b, is located in its star's habitable zone but may be unable to support life because radiation from its host star is likely to strip away its atmosphere, according to a new study based on a computer simulation.

• The Genesis Project: Sending interstellar probes to seed life on exoplanets

  Tomasz NowakowskiOctober 11th, 2016

  German physicist Claudius Gros envisions an interstellar mission that could send microbial life to extrasolar planets that are not permanently uninhabitable. The proposed “Genesis Project” aims to send a fleet of robotic spacecraft equipped with onboard gene laboratories in order to bring life to distant planets with transient habitability.

• Proxima b may have ocean that could sustain life

  Laurel KornfeldOctober 10th, 2016

  Proxima Centauri b (Proxima b), the exoplanet closest to the Solar System, may be covered by an ocean of liquid water capable of sustaining life.

• Proxima b could be life-friendly, says co-discoverer

  Tomasz NowakowskiSeptember 5th, 2016

  In late August, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) broke the news announcing the discovery of Proxima b, the closest exoplanet to Earth, fueling hopes of finding an Earth-like planet that could support life. Now, Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, and co-discoverer of Proxima b, suggests the newly found alien world could be one of the best currently-known extra-solar places to search for microbial organisms.

• Earth-size planet discovered around nearest stellar neighbor

  Bart LeahyAugust 27th, 2016

  An international team of scientists working with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile has published a paper in the journal Nature reporting a rocky planet approximately 1.3 times the size of Earth has been detected orbiting Proxima Centauri, a small red dwarf star 4.25 light-years from Earth.

• Proxima Centauri may host Earth-like planet

  Laurel KornfeldAugust 17th, 2016

  A rocky, Earth-like planet may be orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun, according to a report published in the German weekly newspaper Der Spiegel.