The "Earthlike" planet orbiting Proxima Centauri probably isn't habitable after all, due to the star giving off lots of dangerous radiation.
Bummer. There goes that vacation spot down the drain.
Quote:However, Dr Andrew Zic, the lead author of the latest study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, said: "What our research shows is this makes the planets very vulnerable to dangerous ionising radiation that could effectively sterilise them."
This problem does not plague life on Earth in the same way because the hot clouds of ionised particles emitted by the Sun are too far away and our planet is shielded by a powerful planetary magnetic field.
Dr Zic, of Macquarie University, Sydney, added: "This is probably bad news on the space weather front.
"It seems likely the galaxy's most common stars - red dwarfs - won't be great places to find life as we know it."
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The latest findings about Proxima b were based on observational data from space and land-based telescopes that captured the space conditions in “amazing detail”.
It suggests that planets around red dwarfs such as Proxima Centauri are likely to be showered with stellar flares and plasma ejections.
The orbiting planets would therefore suffer from strong “atmospheric erosion”, which would expose them to very intense ultraviolet radiation.
Bummer. There goes that vacation spot down the drain.
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"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that this was some killer weed."
"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that this was some killer weed."