Fritz Benedict has used data he took over two decades ago with Hubble Space Telescope to confirm the existence of another planet around the Sun’s nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, and […]
Proxima Centauri
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
ESPRESSO Confirms The Presence Of An Earth-Sized Planet Orbiting Proxima Centauri
The existence of a planet the size of Earth around the closest star in the solar system, Proxima Centauri, has been confirmed by an international team of scientists including researchers […]
Posted inPress Release, Proxima Centauri
The Effect of Substellar Continent Size on Ocean Dynamics of Proxima Centauri b
The potential habitability of tidally locked planets orbiting M-dwarf stars has been widely investigated in recent work, typically with a non-dynamic ocean and without continents. On Earth, ocean dynamics are […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
Revisiting Proxima With ESPRESSO
We aim to confirm the presence of Proxima b using independent measurements obtained with the new ESPRESSO spectrograph, and refine the planetary parameters taking advantage of its improved precision. We […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
Atmospheric Convection Plays A Key Role In The Climate Of Tidally-locked Terrestrial Exoplanets: Insights From High-resolution Simulations
Using a 3D general circulation model (GCM), we investigate the sensitivity of the climate of tidally-locked Earth-like exoplanets, Trappist-1e and Proxima Centauri b, to the choice of a convection parameterization. […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri b: A Strong Case for Including Cosmic-Ray-induced Chemistry in Atmospheric Biosignature Studies
Due to its Earth-like minimum mass of 1.27 ME and its close proximity to our Solar system, Proxima Centauri b is one of the most interesting exoplanets for habitability studies.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
The UV Surface Habitability of Proxima b: First Experiments Revealing Probable Life Survival To Stellar Flares
We use a new interdisciplinary approach to study the UV surface habitability of Proxima b under quiescent and flaring stellar conditions. We assumed planetary atmospheric compositions based on CO2 and […]
Posted inAlpha Centauri, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Brown Dwarfs, Epsilon Eridani, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Proxima Centauri, tau Ceti, TRAPPIST-1
Goldilocks Stars Are Best Places to Look for Life
In the search for life beyond Earth, astronomers look for planets in a star’s “habitable zone” — sometimes nicknamed the “Goldilocks zone” — where temperatures are just right for liquid […]
Posted inPress Release, Proxima Centauri
Quasi-periodic Oscillations During Flare Decay And Inferences On The Habitability Of Proxima b
We analyze the light curve of the M5.5 dwarf Proxima Centauri obtained by the TESS in Sectors 11 and 12. In the ≈50 day-long light curve we identified and analyzed […]
Posted inProxima Centauri
Temporal Changes Of The Flare Activity Of Proxima Cen
We study temporal variations of the emission lines of Halpha, Hepsilon, H and K Ca II, D1 and D2 Na I, 4026 and 5876 A He I in the HARPS […]