We’ve all spent more than a few days during the pandemic dreaming of our next big vacation. And while we inch ever closer to those fantasies becoming reality, let’s stay in the fantasy for a moment longer, just for fun. What if you could visit not just anywhere on this planet but anywhere off it too? Enter Proxima b, an Earth-sized planet that some scientists say could support life.
The Good
The discovery of Proxima b took the scientific world by storm back in 2016. The reason for all the excitement wasn’t the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to our own solar system, but rather its location. Proxima b’s orbit places it in what’s called the “habitable zone” – the distance from the sun where water can exist in liquid form. The location also means it’s less likely to be a gas planet like Saturn and more likely a rocky planet similar to our own. Unfortunately, since we’re 4.24 light years away, we don’t have much else to work with. Scientists aren’t even sure if the planet has an atmosphere – but what we do know is enough to leave us with a solid “maybe.”
The Bad
When it comes to the question of Proxima b’s ability to support life, its greatest asset may also be its greatest hindrance. Proxima b orbits Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star about 0.1% as bright as our own sun with 88% less mass. This presents a number of problems for habitability. The planet would need to be closer to Proxima Centauri than we are to our own sun, and this could cause it to be tidal locked – with one side always facing the sun. If not exactly a deal-breaker, that’s certainly something to consider. Another issue is the unpredictability of red dwarf stars. They tend to fire off solar flares far more frequently than our own sun, and those flares can destroy a planet's atmosphere, bathing it in deadly radiation. There’s no way of knowing if Proxima b creates a large enough electromagnetic field to protect itself from the flares. Is that a sizzling noise?
The Ugly
With each new generation of telescopes, we learn more and more about planets like Proxima b. Unfortunately, the ugly truth is that no matter how much we learn, we’ll never truly know if we could set foot on Proxima b. The 4.24 light years that separate Earth from Proxima b is a distance almost inconceivable to the mind. For the visual, this is what 4.24 light years looks like when converted into miles:
24,925,371,582,298.5
or
twenty-four trillion, nine hundred twenty-five billion, three hundred seventy-one million, five hundred eighty-two thousand, two hundred ninety-eight, and five tenths of a mile.
At best conventional speeds, it would still take over 70,000 years to reach Proxima b – so unless we figure out how to travel faster than light in the foreseeable future, we’ll have to settle for the real-life vacations here on Earth. Speaking of vacations.
For tips on cool places to visit around Carrollton, be sure to check out our other Lux on Main blog posts.