When Proxima B is 20 times closer to Earth than its star to the Sun, it receives the same energy – heat and light – that the Earth receives from the Sun because Proxima Centauri is a cooler and smaller star.
This puts the planet in the so-called “Goldilocks zone”, which is not too hot and not too cold for some forms of life. This means that the Earth’s potential temperature range is where liquid water is supposed to exist on the planet’s surface. Scientists have equated liquid water with life on Earth, and it is also reporting its discovery for life outside of it.
However, new research has dampened hopes that any suggestion of life exists on its surface, the planet could possibly experience an overcast atmosphere.
For the first time, a team of Australian researchers has shown a coherent link to a star between stellar flares and radio explosions that is not the sun. The findings were an important step in using radio signals from distant stars to help understand the dramatic effects of space weather on solar systems beyond our own, according to a study published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal.
“Our own sun regularly emits hot clouds of ionized particles, which we call ‘coronal mass ejection.'” But the sun is much hotter than Proxima Centauri and other red-dwarf stars, our “habitable zone” is far away from the sun’s surface. , That is, the Earth is a relatively long way from these events, “said lead author Andrew Zick. In a statement, while doing research at the University of Sydney.
Coronal mass ejection is a massive exclusion of ionized plasma and radiation leaving a thirsty atmosphere.
“Earth has a very powerful planetary magnetic field that protects us from these intense explosions of solar plasma. But Proxima Centauri is a nice, tiny red dwarf star, meaning this habitable field is very close to the star; Mercury is for our Sun, Zick, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at McCurry University, said.
“What our research shows is that these make the planets very sensitive to dangerous ionizing radiation that can effectively sterilize the planets.”
The planets surrounding this type of star are likely to be rained down by stellar flares and plasma ejections and are exposed to very intense X-rays and ultraviolet radiation, so atmospheric erosion can occur.
It was possible, Zick said, that radio explosions could occur for reasons other than the sun, where they are usually associated with coronal mass ejection. But, “the probability of getting a solar flare and radio signal from our neighbor is much less than a chance at 128,000.”
“This is probably the bad news on the space weather front. It probably seems like the most common stars in the galaxy – the red dwarf – may not be the best places to find life as we know it,” Zick added.
However, Zick said that in theory it is possible that the exoplanets – the planets outside our solar system – could be Earth-like magnetic fields.
The magnetic fields around the exoplanet have not yet been observed, and this could prove difficult to detect, the statement said.
“Even if there were a magnetic field around the M-dwarf stars, the habitable zone would be enough to protect them, given the proximity of the planets’ stars,” Zick said.
Observations of Proxima Centauri were taken with CSIRO’s Australian Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope in Western Australia, the Shrink Telescope at the University of Western Australia Australia as well as other instruments.
Ashley Strickland of CNN contributed to this report.
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