Proxima Centauri b

[Proteus_MST]

New discovered earth sized planet in the Goldilocks zone of Proxima Centauri
It has 1.3 M_earth and an orbital period of 11 days

Maybe now we have reasons to send probes to our next neighboring triple star system :d:
(it isn't known yet, whether the planet has water and/or atmosphere, or is just a barren rock, however)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/earth-mass-planet-proxima-centauri-habitable-space-science/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/08/24/exoplanet_discovered_orbiting_proxima_centauri.html

[Giancarlo]

If it has water... Oh hell. I'm out of here. Adios. You guys can have Trump Dumpster... I will start a new world.

On a serious note, I love discoveries like this. So awe inspiring. Just goes to show there is so much out there...

[pchang]

Stellaris is REAL!!!!

[Ecthy]

If we're going to send a probe it should get a psych upgrade to survive the onslaught of indigenous lifeforms.

[Lorizael]

New discovered earth sized planet in the Goldilocks zone of Proxima Centauri
It has 1.3 M_earth and an orbital period of 11 days

Maybe now we have reasons to send probes to our next neighboring triple star system :d:
(it isn't known yet, whether the planet has water and/or atmosphere, or is just a barren rock, however)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/earth-mass-planet-proxima-centauri-habitable-space-science/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro..._centauri.html

1.3 Earth masses is a minimum mass, since it was detected via the radial velocity method and we don't know what the planet's inclination with respect to us is. (If it's tilted, then we're not seeing the full wobble, which means we're underestimating the mass.) So it's not yet clear if this is a rocky Earth-like world, but nevertheless this is pretty damn awesome. The system is also close enough to us that, despite how close the star and planet are to each other, we might be able to directly image the planet with a big enough telescope.

[Giancarlo]

If we're going to send a probe it should get a psych upgrade to survive the onslaught of indigenous lifeforms.

Some videos of Donald Trump should send any intelligent being running and screaming lol. Or they will come and invade the world in order to save us lol.

[Ecthy]

It appears you should spend some time at a network node.

[kentonio]

The system is also close enough to us that, despite how close the star and planet are to each other, we might be able to directly image the planet with a big enough telescope.

I suspect we may end up having to wait for Breakthrough Starshot.

[Lorizael]

Breakthrough Starshot will let us resolve the surface of the planet, but simply distinguishing the planet from its star (as fuzzy dots) is eminently doable with current and upcoming telescopes. Proxima b is .05 AU away from its star and ~4.25 ly from us. This corresponds to an angular separation of something like 38 milliarcseconds (mas). So, for example, with adaptive optics and interferometry, the VLT in Chile can get down to about 2 mas, which is more than good enough.

[Proteus_MST]

Breakthrough Starshot will let us resolve the surface of the planet, but simply distinguishing the planet from its star (as fuzzy dots) is eminently doable with current and upcoming telescopes. Proxima b is .05 AU away from its star and ~4.25 ly from us. This corresponds to an angular separation of something like 38 milliarcseconds (mas). So, for example, with adaptive optics and interferometry, the VLT in Chile can get down to about 2 mas, which is more than good enough.

I guess when Proxima b and its star are close together this would also allow us to gather informations about Proxima bs atmospheric composition (if it has one) by doing a spectral analysis and filtering out the spectral bands of the star itself, isn't it?

[Sir Og]

... Proxima b is .05 AU away from its star and ~4.25 ly from us. ...

Shouldn't it be tidally locked (not sure if this is the correct term. I mean not spinnig around it's axis) at such a close distance?

[kentonio]

Breakthrough Starshot will let us resolve the surface of the planet, but simply distinguishing the planet from its star (as fuzzy dots) is eminently doable with current and upcoming telescopes. Proxima b is .05 AU away from its star and ~4.25 ly from us. This corresponds to an angular separation of something like 38 milliarcseconds (mas). So, for example, with adaptive optics and interferometry, the VLT in Chile can get down to about 2 mas, which is more than good enough.

They did mention that the optics required to get a laser through the atmosphere accurately could probably also be used to improve ground telescopes to the level where they could do what you describe. Which is cool. Just a shame it has to be ground based in the first place, although I understand the reasons why.

[BeBMan]

This might be a bug planet. If we send probes, they'll dig out their brainbug and start to throw rocks at us before anyone can say "Mobile Infantry"

[Lorizael]

They did mention that the optics required to get a laser through the atmosphere accurately could probably also be used to improve ground telescopes to the level where they could do what you describe. Which is cool. Just a shame it has to be ground based in the first place, although I understand the reasons why.

VLT can already do this. In the orange part of the spectrum, the space-based JWST will have a resolution of something like 20-30 mas, so it might be able to pull it off as well. The Extremely Large Telescope (astronomers are the worst), when completed, will also be able to image the planet.

[Lorizael]

I guess when Proxima b and its star are close together this would also allow us to gather informations about Proxima bs atmospheric composition (if it has one) by doing a spectral analysis and filtering out the spectral bands of the star itself, isn't it?

I read somewhere that Proxima b apparently does not transit the star, which means we won't be able to sample the atmosphere by looking at what light it absorbs from the star. But if we can detect its reflected light (very difficult given relative brightness of star to planet and their tiny angular separation), then we could get spectral information on the atmosphere.

Shouldn't it be tidally locked (not sure if this is the correct term. I mean not spinnig around it's axis) at such a close distance?

Tidally locked is a good bet, yes, but not a guarantee. Take Mercury, for example. It's not tidally locked but is instead in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance (3 days for every 2 years). But just to be ultra-pedantic for a moment, tidally locked just means 1 day = 1 year, not that the planet doesn't actually spin on its axis.