Proxima Centauri b Archives - Astrobiology

Known potentially-rocky exoplanets within 20 pc. The vast majority of the closest planets are non-transiting and their atmospheres cannot be characterized with currently-available techniques. Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, accessed on 2026-02-06. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

A New Strategy For Using Spectroscopic Phase Curves to Characterize Non-Transiting Planets

by Keith CowingFebruary 10, 2026

We introduce a new time-series analysis strategy for combined-light exoplanet spectroscopic phase curves called the Variable Planetary Infrared Excess (VPIE) method. VPIE can be used to extract information about the […]

Astrometric Reconnaissance of Exoplanetary Systems

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia Mission, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Astrometric Reconnaissance of Exoplanetary Systems (ARES). I. Methodology Validation With HST Point-source Images Of Proxima Centauri

by Keith CowingDecember 16, 2025December 16, 2025

We present the first results of the Astrometric Reconnaissance of Exoplanetary Systems (ARES) project, aimed at validating and characterizing candidate exoplanets around the nearest systems using multi-epoch Hubble Space Telescope […]

The average total power of individual airport radar systems, averaged over one-hour intervals as seen from Barnard’s Star. -- Royal Astronomical Society

Astrobiology (general), Barnard's Star, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, Press Release, Proxima Centauri, SETI & Technosignatures

How Airports Could Help Aliens Spot Earth

by Keith CowingJuly 9, 2025July 9, 2025

Radar systems used by civilian airports and military operations are inadvertently revealing our existence to potential advanced alien civilisations, new research shows.

Integration time to a 3σ detection for a range of terrestrial atmosphere types on Earth-sized planets orbiting analog nearby targets. Each panel represents a different molecular band, and each color represents a different nearby host star/planet analog. Filled and open circles represent assumed instrumental contrasts of C=10−3 and C=10−4 , respectively, and we assume a total throughput of 10%. A Proxima Centauri b analog (1.3 pc away) is plotted in blue, and a sub-Neptune version of Proxima Centauri b is included for comparison. We may be able to detect several molecules within 100 hours of observing each target, and our Proxima Centauri b analog is the most favorable nearby target for thorough atmospheric characterization. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Simulating The Detectability Of A Range Of Molecules For High-contrast, High-resolution Observations Of Non-transiting Terrestrial Exoplanets

by Keith CowingMarch 13, 2025March 13, 2025

The upcoming extremely large telescopes will provide the first opportunity to search for signs of habitability and life on non-transiting terrestrial exoplanets using high-contrast, high-resolution instrumentation.

Statistical power of the habitable zone oxygen hypothesis test on the ELT for different values of η⊕ and different fractions of exo-Earth candidates (EECs, left) and fractions of exo-super Earth candidates (ESECs, right) with Earth-like levels of O2. Statistical power contours for 50% and 95% are shown in black. More planets with oxygen and/or higher values for η⊕ result in a greater ability to test this hypothesis, however, the inclusion of all super-Earths does not necessarily improve this ability. We note that these figures are super-sampled to highlight differences. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Status Report

Bioverse: GMT and ELT Direct Imaging and High-Resolution Spectroscopy Assessment – Surveying Exo-Earth O2 and Testing the Habitable Zone Oxygen Hypothesis

by Keith CowingFebruary 1, 2025February 1, 2025

Biosignature detection in the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets is one of the most significant and ambitious goals for astronomy, astrobiology, and humanity. Molecular oxygen is among the strongest indicators of […]

Planetesimals in a M-Dwarf system -- NASA/Astrobiology.com

Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Proxima Centauri, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Migration Of Bodies In The Proxima Centauri and Trappist 1 Planetary Systems

by Keith CowingNovember 21, 2024November 21, 2024

The motion of planetesimals was studied in the Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST 1 exoplanetary systems.

LEFT: Instantaneous surface temperature for Proxima Centauri b in a 3:2 SOR for (a) the substellar point at 0◦ longitude and (b) the substellar point at 180◦ longitude. The horizontal wind vectors are again shown at P≈250 hPa. RIGHT Instantaneous vertically integrated ozone column density for Proxima Centauri b in a 3:2 SOR for (a) daytime on the 0◦ hemisphere and (b) daytime on the 180◦ hemisphere. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Status Report

Earth-like Exoplanets In Spin-orbit Resonances: Climate Dynamics, 3D Atmospheric Chemistry, and Observational Signatures

by Keith CowingOctober 29, 2024October 29, 2024

Terrestrial exoplanets around M- and K-type stars are important targets for atmospheric characterisation. Such planets are likely tidally locked with the order of spin-orbit resonances (SORs) depending on eccentricity. We […]

XAO+PIAAN simulation scheme. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Status Report

RISTRETTO: A VLT XAO Design To Reach Proxima Cen b In The Visible

by Keith CowingSeptember 13, 2024September 13, 2024

RISTRETTO is the evolution of the original idea of coupling the VLT instruments SPHERE and ESPRESSO lovis_2016a, aiming at High Dispersion Coronagraphy. RISTRETTO is a visitor instrument that should enable […]

“Hyper-realistic” RGB images of Control at a phase of 40°, generated with PSG GlobES. Clockwise starting from the top left: (a) true color image, without BVLO. Proxima b appears orange because Proxima Centauri is a cool star which emits mostly red light in the visible. In this image, the darkest regions on the planet are oceans, and the lighter regions are ice or clouds. To identify clouds, compare with b. (b) the cloud cover fraction, with high numbers indicating grid cells mostly covered with clouds. (c) false color image of Control with BVLO. The BVLO appear purple because of Qy feature strongly absorbs in the green channel at 1um. (d) same as a, but with BVLO added (Amax = 1). The BVLO fill in the open water regions. To easily see regions of BVLO coverage, compare with purple regions in c. -- astro-ph.EP

Analog Studies, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Status Report

Detectability Simulations of a NIR Surface Biosignature on Proxima Centauri b with Future Space Observatories

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2024September 11, 2024

Telescope missions are currently being designed which will make direct imaging of habitable exoplanets possible in the near future, and studies are needed to quantify the detectability of biosignature features […]

Schematic diagram of a dual field optical interferometer using two telescopes. A beam splitter creates two images of the focal plane, where two fibres are positioned—one on the star to feed Interferometer 1 (serving as the phase reference) and the other on the exoplanet, feeding Interferometer 2. The exoplanet is detected as coherent flux in Interferometer 2, with a phase offset relative to the stellar coherent flux due to an optical path delay δOPD, corresponding to the scalar product of the narrow angle baseline vector B and the angular separation between the star and exoplanet α: δOPD = α · B. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Exoplanets In Reflected Starlight With Dual-field Interferometry: A Case For Shorter Wavelengths And A Fifth Unit Telescope At VLTI/Paranal

by Keith CowingJune 13, 2024June 13, 2024

The direct observation of cold and temperate planets within 1 to 10 AU would be extremely valuable for uncovering their atmospheric compositions but remains a formidable challenge with current astronomical […]