Posted on 10/06/2016 12:26:27 PM PDT by LibWhacker
An artist's impression of the planet Proxima b, orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, released by the European Southern Observatory on August 24, 2016
A rocky planet discovered in the "habitable" zone of the star nearest our Sun may be covered with oceans, researchers at France's CNRS research institute said Thursday.
A team including CNRS astrophysicists have calculated the size and surface properties of the planet dubbed Proxima b, and concluded it may be an "ocean planet" similar to Earth.
Scientists announced Proxima b's discovery in August, and said it may be the first exoplanet—planet outside our Solar System—to one day be visited by robots from Earth.
The planet orbits within a "temperate" zone from its host star Proxima Centauri, some four light years from us.
It is estimated to have a mass about 1.3 times that of Earth, and orbits about 7.5 million kilometres (4.6 million miles) from its star—about a tenth the distance of innermost planet Mercury from the Sun.
"Contrary to what one might expect, such proximity does not necessarily mean that Proxima b's surface is too hot" for water to exist in liquid form, said a CNRS statement.
Proxima Centauri is smaller and 1,000 times weaker than our Sun, which means Proxima b is at exactly the right distance for conditions to be potentially habitable.
"The planet may very well host liquid water on its surface, and therefore also some forms of life," the statement said.
Discovery of an exoplanet near Earth
The size of exoplanets are generally calculated by measuring how much light they block out, from Earth's perspective, when they pass in front of their host star.
But no such transit of Proxima b has yet been observed, so the team had to rely on simulations to estimate the planet's composition and radius.
They calculated the radius was between 0.94 and 1.4 times that of Earth, which is 6,371 kilometres on average.
Assuming a minimum radius of 5,990 km, the planet would be very dense, with a metallic core making up two-thirds of the entire planet's mass, surrounded by a rocky mantle.
If there is surface water, it would not contribute more than 0.05 percent to the planet's total mass, the team said—similar to Earth, where it is about 0.02 percent.
In the larger planet scenario, with a radius of 8,920 km, Proxima b's mass would be split 50-50 between a rocky centre and surrounding water.
"In this case, Proxima b would be covered by a single, liquid ocean 200 km deep," said the CNRS.
"In both cases, a thin, gassy atmosphere could surround the planet, like on Earth, rendering Proxima b potentially habitable," it concluded.
Explore further: Proxima b could be a life-friendly planet, says one of the co-discoverers
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-10-planet-star-nearest-sun-oceans.html#jCp
Hmmm... If it has oceans, it surely has a water cycle and rainbows!
OMG, I think he’s from there!
Slow news day... There may be a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, and it may have water, and it may be orbiting at a distance where water could be liquid.
There may be rainbow unicorns swimming in those oceans too. You heard it here first!
Thats some sirius UV.
Nerd FAIL. I just used light speed constant.
I did the math with ‘calc’ from the 271,000 astronomical units to time, posted, and only then realized that my answer was on the preceding line.
Its about time for another dose of cold medicine. Maybe a shot of bourbon.
cold medicine and bourbon = NyQuil
They make it sound like it's right next door (OK, it is in galactic terms) but since we've gotten no where close to the speed of light, those "Four Light Years" would take us about 70,000 years to cross, but who knows, maybe the aliens have faster ships.
Re “Why are all the planets everywhere round” and not “oblong, square, etc”.
Because their designer, GOD, is not a Democrat!!
Meantime research into other forms of propulsion isn't lacking in good ideas for sending humans deep into interstellar space. Not going to happen in my lifetime, but I'm optimistic long term.
Yes. The knowledge gained would be worth it if properly set up. I doubt it would be that costly if integrated in a partially private funded program.
Yes, aPROXIMAtety.
7cm of fresh water has a ionizing radiation protection factor of 2 meaning it halves the dose of ionizing radiation of which xrays and gamma rays are. The surface dose of earth for all radiation is on average .000001 R/hour (1 mSv/hr) 100 times this while high by human standards would be none existent under 1 meter of water. To put this in perspective fresh nuclear reactor waste is stored under cooling pools that you can walk up to the edge and see the blue glow of the water perfectly safe. fresh reactor wastes has a 100000 R/hour rate lethal to humans in under 5 min yet under 2 meters of fresh or salty water which has a higher radiation absorption rate due to greater density humans can walk up to the edge of the pol and view the waste. while the surface radiation may be lethal to higher lifeforms under a few meters of water that radiation is attenuated and life would thrive visible light penetrates 10000 of thousands times further that high energy photons due to water’s molecular structure being near the wavelength of gamma and xrays causing massive scattering in the first few cms.
All those are round bodies EXCEPT Saturn’s Moon Iapetus which is many sided ...
See: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=1270 - Saturn’s Moon Iapetus.
Yep. Better telescopes than Obamaphones. Hell, I'd rather light dollar bills on fire than use them to pay for Obamaphones.
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