Earth-like exoplanet discovered around Proxima Centauri

arthwollipot

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arthwollipot
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EARTH-LIKE PLANET AROUND PROXIMA CENTAURI DISCOVERED

The hunt for exoplanets has been heating up in recent years. Since it began its mission in 2009, over four thousand exoplanet candidates have been discovered by the Kepler mission, several hundred of which have been confirmed to be “Earth-like” (i.e. terrestrial). And of these, some 216 planets have been shown to be both terrestrial and located within their parent star’s habitable zone (aka. “Goldilocks zone”).

But in what may prove to be the most exciting find to date, the German weekly Der Spiegel announced recently that astronomers have discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, just 4.25 light-years away. Yes, in what is an apparent trifecta, this newly-discovered exoplanet is Earth-like, orbits within it’s sun’s habitable zone, and is within our reach. But is this too good to be true?
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...according to Der Spiegel’s unnamed source – whom they claim was involved with the La Silla team that made the find – this latest discovery is the real deal, and was the result of intensive work. “Finding small celestial bodies is a lot of hard work,” the source was quoted as saying. “We were moving at the technically feasible limit of measurement.”

The article goes on to state that the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will be announcing the finding at the end of August. But according to numerous sources, in response to a request for comment by AFP, ESO spokesman Richard Hook refused to confirm or deny the discovery of an exoplanet around Proxima Centauri. “We are not making any comment,” he is reported as saying.
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If the statements made by the unnamed source, and quoted by Der Speigel, are to be taken at face value, then confirmation (or denial) will be coming shortly. In the meantime, we’ll all just need to be patient. Still, you have to admit, it’s an exciting prospect: an Earth-like planet that’s actually within reach! And with a mission that could make it there within our own lifetimes. This is the stuff good science fiction is made of, you know.
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If this pans out, it is extremely exciting. Not only might there be the potential for exobiology, but even if there isn't life it may be suitable for human colonisation - and be close enough that colonists could actually get there within a single human lifetime.

I hope it's true.
 
First things first: No, an Earth-like exoplanet has not been discovered around Proxima Centauri. Rather, Der Spiegel cites an unnamed source claiming such a discovery. Official sources have no comment. So much for the title of the thread.

Personally, I am skeptical. I think it would be suspiciously coincidental if our nearest star system just so happened to be home to another Class M Planet.

I'm betting this doesn't pan out. But either way, I think we should let official sources give a proper statement.
 
arthwollipot said:
If this pans out, it is extremely exciting. Not only might there be the potential for exobiology, but even if there isn't life it may be suitable for human colonisation - and be close enough that colonists could actually get there within a single human lifetime.
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By the "Earth Like" definition that article must be applying there are at least two unoccupied Earth like planets that we've already sent probes too. Mercury might qualify too.

ETA: Actually, I'm starting to think Mercury might be pleasant compared to any planet orbiting Proxima Centauri close enough to be warm enough for liquid water. Proxima Centauri is a flare star.

ETA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri Bottom Line: No way there is an "Earth like" planet there, at least not by any use of that phrase an average person would expect.
 
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arthwollipot said:
...

an Earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, just 4.25 light-years away. Yes, in what is an apparent trifecta, this newly-discovered exoplanet is Earth-like, orbits within it’s sun’s habitable zone, and is within our reach.
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...
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Well, "within our reach", how is it 4.25 light-year or 500 within our reach?

What if that planet is populated by intelligent bipeds? We could also say we are within their reach. What would happen if they try to invade us or immigrate here? I know ... we'd build a Dyson sphere and make them pay for it!
 
arthwollipot said:
... - and be close enough that colonists could actually get there within a single human lifetime.
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:dl:

I was just coming in to post this story, because it gave me such a laugh when I saw that claim.

On speeds we can actually achieve right now, it would require a lifetime of around 70,000 years.

Even in the fairytale transport system alleged to be used by the Russian geezer travelling at 0.2 C is omitting the fact that it would take a century or so to reach that 0.2 C and a similar time to slow down again.

Fantasy.
 
Interesting, nevertheless. For each exoplanet we discover (and I realize this one is yet unconfirmed), the potential number of planets in the universe is rising. It is already considerable, but it was once assumed that multiple star systems could not contain planets. As double- or multiple star systems are very prolific, discovering planets in them vastly increases the number.

But no, we may never be able to go to even Proxima Centaury, physically.

... OTOH, we have thought so many things impossible, but later done it.:p

Hans
 
MRC_Hans said:
But no, we may never be able to go to even Proxima Centaury, physically.
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But they may come to us. Why not? It's almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved on earth. It's equally almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved there, but several centuries more advanced. The more earth-like planets discovered, the less almost impossibly unlikely the chances become.
 
lionking said:
But they may come to us. Why not? It's almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved on earth. It's equally almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved there, but several centuries more advanced. The more earth-like planets discovered, the less almost impossibly unlikely the chances become.
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If "they" (the individual members of the population) in a very advanced civilisation are machines which were originally manufactured to take over from the organic creatures who originally created the society, then perhaps 70,000 years is within the bounds of possibility. So such brings as that "may come to us".

That sort of civilisation has been proposed by SF writers, but I sometimes wonder - what motive would impel machines to embark on such enterprises? Or are they obedient to general instructions programmed into the first of them by their makers, and faithfully copied over untold millennia since that time?
 
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lionking said:
But they may come to us. Why not? It's almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved on earth. It's equally almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved there, but several centuries more advanced. The more earth-like planets discovered, the less almost impossibly unlikely the chances become.
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Well, if they can come to us, we can come to them. Of course, they may be more advanced, technologically, but they can't do anything we can't, eventually.

Hans
 
MRC_Hans said:
<snip>

but it was once assumed that multiple star systems could not contain planets.

<snip>
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I've no doubt that a great many people once assumed such a thing, and a great many likely still do.

However, I kinda doubt that those who actually researched this "assumed" any such thing. Likely the "concluded" that such planetary systems were unlikely, not stable over billions of years, only stable within particular orbits, etc, etc.

In fact, I vaguely recall once having a homework assignment which asked, in a highly simplified binary-star system, where the stable 'planetary' orbits would be. Triple systems like Proxima/Alpha Centauri are little different from binaries; the two Alphas are, to Proxima, essentially the same as a single star (gravity-wise).
 
Craig B said:
... That sort of civilisation has been proposed by SF writers, but I sometimes wonder - what motive would impel machines to embark on such enterprises? Or are they obedient to general instructions programmed into the first of them by their makers, and faithfully copied over untold millennia since that time?
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One scenario would be that AI has evolving algorithms and can adapt, so motives might change over time. But my take on machine exploration is that it makes much more sense to send out sensors that can relay info back to each other and to the origin system. Eventually, with all the data, AI could 'travel' in a virtual galaxy instantly, even breaking "c," yet never actually move. Unlike humans, for AI, accurate data is ostensibly the same as 'being there.'
 
Hlafordlaes said:
One scenario would be that AI has evolving algorithms and can adapt, so motives might change over time. But my take on machine exploration is that it makes much more sense to send out sensors that can relay info back to each other and to the origin system. Eventually, with all the data, AI could 'travel' in a virtual galaxy instantly, even breaking "c," yet never actually move. Unlike humans, for AI, accurate data is ostensibly the same as 'being there.'
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The sensors couldn't transmit information to each other faster than c, and therefore couldn't "break" it.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
The sensors couldn't transmit information to each other faster than c, and therefore couldn't "break" it.
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I am referring to 'surfing' the data already received back at the home planet. Once some probe has reached another system and its data recieved, a machine might 'go take a look.' That data propogates at c (assuming EM and no lag in retransmissions), but once it has arrived, it can be used. This would make for a virtual world that is asynchronous; i.e., viewing a distant planet using data from a probe there ignores the fact that the data was captured long ago.
 
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lionking said:
It's almost impossibly unlikely that intelligent life evolved on earth.
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Well, it is certainly debatable, but for a charitable value of 'intelligent' I suppose it could be said that it did.

Hans
 
Hlafordlaes said:
I am referring to 'surfing' the data already received back at the home planet. Once some probe has reached another system and its data recieved, a machine might 'go take a look.' That data propogates at c (assuming EM and no lag in retransmissions), but once it has arrived, it can be used. This would make for a virtual world that is asynchronous; i.e., viewing a distant planet using data from a probe there ignores the fact that the data was captured long ago.
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I'm still not getting how you think this would break c.
 
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