A Planet Orbiting Our Closest Neighbor, Proxima Centauri

A possibly habitable exoplanet has been discovered after years of observation and astronomical research into a solar system of nearby star Proxima Centauri. Named "Proxima Centauri b," the planet is at a distance of about 25 trillion miles.

While Proxima b might be similar to Earth, its parent star, Proxima Centauri, is very different from the sun. It is tiny, belonging to a class of stars known as red dwarfs, with only about 12 percent of the mass of the sun and about 1/600th the luminosity — so dim that it cannot be seen from Earth with the naked eye.

Thus Proxima b, despite its closeness to the star, receives less warmth than Earth, but enough that water could flow on the surface. Whether the planet has liquid water or an atmosphere is “pure speculation at this point,” Dr. Anglada-Escudé said in a news conference.

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The planet orbits Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf slightly larger than Jupiter.

The other two stars in the Alpha Centauri system are Alpha Centauri A and B, each about the mass of the sun.

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Consider what ramifications this has for interplanetary space travel. It is possible that there is life on the planet, and it is possible that there are resources, such as water. For the time being, we will be observing this planet's "wobble." Considering how much closer Proxima Centauri b is than any other exoplanet that might be habitable, and barring any faster than light technological advancements, we should expect to visit some time within the next couple of centuries. I think that we can handle ourselves long enough to send a probe into space, long enough to wait the amount of time for it to traverse the distance, and long enough to wait for a communications channel to be established. I predict a series of probes with large satellites will be launched in order to create an intergalactic network, which might reduce the length of time required for a transmission and create redundancy over the network.

The amount of time, resources and raw material required to launch such an operation, let alone maintain it, will be quite large. However, in the past few decades we have developed technology within our solar system that can be further developed. I hope that space agencies from around the world will collaborate on this effort as an exercise in diplomacy.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/24/science/space/proxima-centauri-nearest-exoplanet.html

Celebrity said:

A possibly habitable exoplanet has been discovered after years of observation and astronomical research into a solar system of nearby star Proxima Centauri. Named "Proxima Centauri b," the planet is at a distance of about 25 trillion miles.



Consider what ramifications this has for interplanetary space travel. It is possible that there is life on the planet, and it is possible that there are resources, such as water. For the time being, we will be observing this planet's "wobble." Considering how much closer Proxima Centauri b is than any other exoplanet that might be habitable, and barring any faster than light technological advancements, we should expect to visit some time within the next couple of centuries. I think that we can handle ourselves long enough to send a probe into space, long enough to wait the amount of time for it to traverse the distance, and long enough to wait for a communications channel to be established. I predict a series of probes with large satellites will be launched in order to create an intergalactic network, which might reduce the length of time required for a transmission and create redundancy over the network.

The amount of time, resources and raw material required to launch such an operation, let alone maintain it, will be quite large. However, in the past few decades we have developed technology within our solar system that can be further developed. I hope that space agencies from around the world will collaborate on this effort as an exercise in diplomacy.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/24/science/space/proxima-centauri-nearest-exoplanet.html

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Fascinating and humbling stuff.

We'll have to discover a helluva new way to travel. Wish we could be around to see it.