Closest Star Proxima Centauri Has a Dust Belt, Maybe More Planets

Proxima Centauri is a small Red Dwarf Star that lives about 4.2 light years away from our Sun making it our closest celestial neighbor , the Star is known to host just one Earth sized Planet imaginatively called Proxima b , but now scientists at the ALMA Observatory in Chile have detected one or maybe two dust rings around the Star giving rise to the belief that Proxima Centauri may host a system of planets.

If other planets orbit Proxima Centauri, it is only a matter of time before astronomers pinpoint them and measure their properties.

Could life exist in this intriguing planetary system? It's difficult to say. Proxima b is likely tidally locked with its star, meaning one side always faces the light of Proxima Centauri and the other side is always in darkness. Planets around red dwarfs could be a good bet for finding life because the stars live for so long—in fact, astronomers believe red dwarfs have longer lifespans than the current age of the universe, about 13.8 billion years—giving life plenty of time to take root.

However, these types of stars are also known to be quite volatile in their early lives, ejecting supercharged particles from surface eruptions that might strip any orbiting planets of their insulating atmospheres.
www.popularmechanics.com...

If proved and added to the discovery of the nearby TRAPPIST-1 system it would add weight to the belief that systems like our own are the norm not the exception and other "Earths" are out there and maybe closer than we think.

a reply to: gortex

Yes, good find. At only 4.2ly away we could get there in no time to check it out...! Lol

a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour? So that's 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, then multiply by 4 and you get....? A really long time.

a reply to: lostbook

There's a mission planned to send a small satellite there , they estimate it will take 20 or 30 years , perhaps longer , for the craft to arrive though , they say it's 25 trillion miles away.
www.popularmechanics.com...

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour? So that's 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, then multiply by 4 and you get....? A really long time.

Yea 4.2 Light years

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: lostbook

There's a mission planned to send a small satellite there , they estimate it will take 20 or 30 years , perhaps longer , for the craft to arrive though , they say it's 25 trillion miles away.
www.popularmechanics.com...

Yes, I'm doing the math and i'm calculating 67,890,000 days to get there. I guess that's about 20 years? Supposing my math is correct.

a reply to: lostbook

I think you may have misplaced a decimal point.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: lostbook

I think you may have misplaced a decimal point.

Oh well, that negates everything I've said. Nothing to see here. Move along folks!

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour?

no, per second

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour? So that's 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, then multiply by 4 and you get....? A really long time.

Light travels at 186,000 mi/sec not MPH.

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour? So that's 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, then multiply by 4 and you get....? A really long time.

299,792,458 metres per second 186,000 miles per second. 670,616,629 mph (666?)

Imo, the process of star formation always creates a star 'system' of planets, moons, ice and dust.

To some lesser or greater degree. Maybe the sun is too powerful, baking its neighborhood with lethal radiation, maybe the star is an old cinder of its former self.

Maybe this or that bowl of porridge is juuust right.

originally posted by: Vector99

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour?

no, per second

Thanks. Wasn't sure. He-he

originally posted by: nofear39

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour? So that's 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, then multiply by 4 and you get....? A really long time.

Yea 4.2 Light years

lol

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: gortex

Light travels at 186,000 Miles an hour? So that's 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, then multiply by 4 and you get....? A really long time.

666? Wow, that's creepy. Maybe, light is really the great deceiver..?

299,792,458 metres per second 186,000 miles per second. 670,616,629 mph (666?)

originally posted by: intrptr

Imo, the process of star formation always creates a star 'system' of planets, moons, ice and dust.

Most stars are formed as binaries, and I'd imagine that would create an unstable gravitational field in many cases, preventing formation of planets.

Of course, the universe is big and there are many exceptions to the rule.

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: intrptr

Imo, the process of star formation always creates a star 'system' of planets, moons, ice and dust.

Most stars are formed as binaries, and I'd imagine that would create an unstable gravitational field in many cases, preventing formation of planets.

Of course, the universe is big and there are many exceptions to the rule.

As long as we're speculating, binary systems didn't start out that way, both systems came together, creating chaos sure, but very little in the way of collisions, after the two suns stabilized their orbit, so would their systems.

.o2