Proxima B 'may have oceans', says French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Hi, there!

We all know the potentially Earth-like Planet that was found in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, our neighbour sun, in August this year, Proxima B

So, looks like scientists are as interested as we are on this guy.

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.

The planet orbits within a "temperate" zone from its host star Proxima Centauri, some four light years from us.

"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.

Ok, it's just a "may be", but if they're dropping these infos, it must be something!

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.

They dropped a few numbers and calculations, that you can all check in Here, but this got my attention.

"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.

Source

So cool! I doubt we will ever be able to reach the planet in my lifetime but that would be a sight to see.

a reply to: vinifalou

it is 4.25 light years from us. Could a human being travel the journey (if we had the tech. to get us there)? Interesting, thank you for sharing this

For those who haven't heard it yet, about 50 years ago, a woman named Elizabeth Klarer said she was abducted and taken to a planet Earth-like, to another solar system, our nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri.

She also said this Planet was full of island and oceans. You can check her full story here or reading the book she wrote several years ago talking about things we just discovered now.

Coincidence or not... It's up to you to read it and tell us.

a reply to: FamCore

I don't know if the conspiracies have any base of true, but if does, we already have the technology and we already travel through the stars

But... Only time will tell. Thank you for your comment!

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: vinifalou

it is 4.25 light years from us. Could a human being travel the journey (if we had the tech. to get us there)? Interesting, thank you for sharing this

Kind of.

breakthroughinitiatives.org...

Cool.
Maybe it has an ocean. And maybe it doesn't.
Maybe it has life. Then again, maybe not.

a reply to: Phage

Damn your practicality and logical approach to the topic at hand I want to talk aliens.

a reply to: Phage

Okay,and how are they going to know for sure,I mean what technology can be used to find it out?

a reply to: 0bserver1

Nothing that I am aware of as yet. But the Webb will be able to provide a lot more data.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: vinifalou

it is 4.25 light years from us. Could a human being travel the journey (if we had the tech. to get us there)? Interesting, thank you for sharing this

Light travels 186,000 miles a second. There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year therefore you'd have to travel 5,865,696,000,000 miles x 4.25 to get the distannce.

a reply to: vinifalou

AboveBoard has a wonderful thread on her!

ATS: Elizabeth Klarer & Aliens from the Proxima Centauri System (Our Neighbors!)

Still not sure what to think about her story. Parts seem obviously made up.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I don't know either, read her book a few months ago and was amazingly suprised how a few things match our current knowledge.

Also, the part where the British Ministry of Defense corroborates her story it is very intriguing

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: 0bserver1

Nothing that I am aware of as yet. But the Webb will be able to provide a lot more data.

Phage, what do you think is the hold up with some of the faster more exotic forms of propulsion out there which aren't being used for space travelers yet? Solar Sails, Vasmir, etc...? Which would you prefer to use on a supposed trip to Proxima B?

a reply to: lostbook

Phage, what do you think is the hold up with some of the faster more exotic forms of propulsion out there which aren't being used for space travelers yet?

They don't work very well yet, mostly. But ion drives are in use, not very fast though.
dawn.jpl.nasa.gov...

Which would you prefer to use on a supposed trip to Proxima B?

Tough choice, but both would still take a very long time to get there. I think a laser boosted light sail would be cool.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: lostbook

Phage, what do you think is the hold up with some of the faster more exotic forms of propulsion out there which aren't being used for space travelers yet?

They don't work very well yet, mostly. But ion drives are in use, not very fast though.
dawn.jpl.nasa.gov...

Which would you prefer to use on a supposed trip to Proxima B?

Tough choice, but both would still take a very long time to get there. I think a laser boosted light sail would be cool.

Sail the seas of Space to Proxima B....? Good idea, I forgot about Solar Sails..

a reply to: lostbook

Good idea, I forgot about Solar Sails..

Um. No you didn't

Solar Sails, Vasmir, etc...?

originally posted by: lostbook

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: 0bserver1

Nothing that I am aware of as yet. But the Webb will be able to provide a lot more data.

Phage, what do you think is the hold up with some of the faster more exotic forms of propulsion out there which aren't being used for space travelers yet? Solar Sails, Vasmir, etc...? Which would you prefer to use on a supposed trip to Proxima B?

I don't know what phage thinks, but I personally think since we got nothing to get there in years and only ways to get there in centuries or thousands of years, well... And that's only theoretical. We've not developed anything for real world testing and refinement. It's not likely be anytime soon without exotic technology breakthroughs. Probably centuries from now.

Solar sails (~1000 years travel-time at best; hundreds of years is far fetched):
www.seeker.com - Are Solar Sails the Future of Space Travel? ...
Based on energy capacity, it might be 200 years:
www.technologyreview.com - Interstellar Travel Not Possible Before 2200AD, Suggests Study...

I think we're more likely to build deep space mega telescopes (*) for possibly gaining more information about the planet and even maybe knowing if it has life on it. Or a kind of micro interstellar probe:
www.space.com - Lasers Could Blast Tiny Spacecraft to the Stars...

So it's like the universe can be seen and inspected but not touched. Since we're mostly internet obsessed, it'll be familiar to us.

(*) - www.sciencenews.org - New telescopes will search for signs of life on distant planets...

a reply to: Phage

How about SKA in Africa? They already have something like six of them up and running. And they used those to image a galaxy and found more stars than they knew about.

VLA in New Mexico?

JWST is still a couple years out. They have combined radio telescopes on the ground with one in orbit to make a larger aperture. Just not sure if the current radio telescopes operate at the proper frequency to detect an ocean on a distant planet.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Galaxies and stars are one thing. Detecting the atmosphere of a planet, much less an ocean, is another.

Radio telescopes detect radio waves. Unless that atmosphere or ocean is emitting radio waves, no go. Conceivably the emissions of a radio source beyond the planet would be altered by passing through an atmosphere in a manner that would allow analysis but I'm not sure that radio astronomy provides high enough resolution (even with a wide array) to do that.