Planet in star system nearest our Sun 'may have oceans' October 6, 2016 A rocky planet discovered in the "habitable" zone of the star nearest our Sun may be covered with oceans, researchers at France's CNRS research institute said Thursday. A team including CNRS astrophysicists have calculated the size and surface properties of the planet dubbed Proxima b, and concluded it may be an "ocean planet" similar to Earth. Scientists announced Proxima b's discovery in August, and said it may be the first exoplanet—planet outside our Solar System—to one day be visited by robots from Earth. The planet orbits within a "temperate" zone from its host star Proxima Centauri, some four light years from us. It is estimated to have a mass about 1.3 times that of Earth, and orbits about 7.5 million kilometres (4.6 million miles) from its star—about a tenth the distance of innermost planet Mercury from the Sun. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-10-planet-star-nearest-sun-oceans.html#jCp
I am skeptical. Determining it's within the Goldilocks zone is a far cry from 'it may have oceans'. Sure, it may. They haven't even nailed down the size yet, having to resort to simulations.
Thanks, after I posted I meant to look at that aspect because I thought they must have considered it longer than I had. Alex
http://www.universetoday.com/131308/proxima-centauri-b-basically-kevin-costners-waterworld/ IS PROXIMA CENTAURI B BASICALLY KEVIN COSTNER’S WATERWORLD? Article Updated: 7 Oct , 2016 The discovery of an exoplanet candidate orbiting around nearby Proxima Centauri has certainly been exciting news. In addition to being the closest exoplanet to our Solar System yet discovered, all indications point to it being terrestrial and located within the stars’circumstellar habitable zone. However, this announcement contained its share of bad news as well. For one, the team behind the discovery indicated that given the nature of its orbit around Proxima Centauri, the planet likely in terms of how much water it actually had on its surface. But a recent research study by scientists from the University of Marseilles and the Carl Sagan Institute may contradict this assessment. According to their study, the exoplanet’s mass may consist of up to 50% water – making it an “ocean planet”. According to the findings of the Pale Red Dot team, Proxima Centauri b orbits its star at an estimated distance of 7 million kilometers (4.35 million mi) – only 5% of the Earth’s distance from the Sun. It also orbits Proxima Centauri with an orbital period of 11 days, and either has a synchronous rotation, or a 3:2 orbital resonance (i.e. three rotations for every two orbits). Because of this, liquid water is likely to be confined to either the sun-facing side of the planet (in the case of a synchronous rotation), or in its tropical zone (in the case of a 3:2 resonance). In addition, the radiation Proxima b receives from its red dwarf star would be significantly higher than what we are used to here on Earth. However, according to a study led by Bastien Brugger of the Astrophysics Laboratory at the University of Marseilles, Proxima b may be wetter than we previously thought. For the sake of their study, titled “Possible Internal Structures and Compositions of Proxima Centauri b” (which was accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters), the research team used internal structure models to compute the radius and mass of Proxima b. Their models were based on the assumptions that Proxima b is both a terrestrial planet (i.e. composed of rocky material and minerals) and did not have a massive atmosphere. Based on these assumptions, they concluded that Proxima b has a radius that is between 0.94 and 1.4 times that of Earth, and a mass that is roughly 1.1 to 1.46 times that of Earth. This range in size and mass allows for some very different planetary compositions. At the lower end, being slightly smaller but a bit more massive than Earth, Proxima b would likely be a Mercury-like planet with a 65% core mass fraction – i.e. an oversized core, presumably composed of iron and nickel. However, at the higher end of the radii and mass estimates, Proxima b would likely be half water by mass. In other words, Proxima b could be an “eyeball planet”, where the sun-facing side has a liquid ocean surface, while the dark side is covered in frozen ice. Recent studies have suggested that this may be the case with planet’s that orbit within the habitable zones of red dwarf stars, where tidal-locking ensures that only one side gets the heat necessary to maintain liquid water on the surface. On the other hand, if it has an orbital resonance of 3:2, its likely to have a double-eyeball pattern – with liquid oceans in both the eastern and western hemispheres – while remaining frozen at the terminators and poles. Both of these scenarios create some very interesting possibilities as extra-terrestrial life goes. Perhaps Proxima b could give rise to a rich aquatic ecosystem (if it hasn’t already), with creatures adapted to both warm and frigid water conditions. But of course, both of these scenarios are based on Proxima b having a radius and mass greater than that of Earth. If the lower estimates should be true, then Proxima b is likely to be a rocky, dense planet with warmer conditions and liquid water on the sun-facing side, or warm spots in the eastern and western hemisphere and frigid regions everywhere else. Naturally, the team expressed that these are just estimates based on Solar System values. As they wrote in the paper: “Although this range of radii still allows very different planet compositions, it helps characterizing many aspects of Proxima Centauri b, such as the formation conditions of the system or the current amount of water on the planet. This work can also help ruling out future measurements of the planet’s radius that would be physically incompatible with a solid planetary body.” Ultimately, we’re still a long ways away from determining Proxima b’s exact size, composition, and surface features – to say nothing about whether or not it can actually support life. Nevertheless, research like this is beneficial in that it helps us to come up with constrains on what kind of planetary conditions could exist there. And who knows? Someday, we may be able to send probes or crewed missions to the planet, and perhaps they will beam back images of sentient beings navigating vast oceans, looking for some fabled parcel of land they heard about? God I hope not! Once was more than enough! https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.09757v1.pdf
Agreed. The article and paper so far could best be described as "best estimates" I am though keeping my fingers crossed, as such a find would be the obvious ideal destination once we achieve inter stellar capabilities.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Preferentially_Earth_sized_Planets_with_Lots_of_Water_999.html Preferentially Earth-sized Planets with Lots of Waterby Staff WritersBern, Switzerland (SPX) Oct 28, 2016 Computer simulations by astrophysicists at the University of Bern of the formation of planets orbiting in the habitable zone of low mass stars such as Proxima Centauri show that these planets are most likely to be roughly the size of the Earth and to contain large amounts of water. In August 2016, the announcement of the discovery of a terrestrial exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri stimulated the imagination of the experts and the general public. After all this star is the nearest star to our Sun even though it is ten times less massive and 500 times less luminous. This discovery together with the one in May 2016 of a similar planet orbiting an even lower mass star (Trappist-1) convinced astronomers that such red dwarfs (as these low mass stars are called) might be hosts to a large population of Earth-like planets. How could these objects look like? What could they be made of? Yann Alibert and Willy Benz at the Swiss NCCR PlanetS and the Center of Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern carried out the first computer simulations of the formation of the population of planets expected to orbit stars ten times less massive than the Sun. more at http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Preferentially_Earth_sized_Planets_with_Lots_of_Water_999.html
Wouldn't it be funny if Joe Schuster, of Superman fame, were right after all. Aliens will be primarily found around red dwarf stars and - upon arriving at Earth - will be astonished at our giant, hot, yellow sun. Though rather than gaining superpowers, they more likely be frail - needing dark sunglasses and SPF 10,000 just to go outdoors.
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
