The exoplanet Proxima b, as shown in this artist’s illustration, will never have sunlight shine on its dark side. (ESO/M. Kornmesser)

Despite Roasting Flares From Its Sun, Proxima b Might Still Have Life

Just because humans wouldn’t do well over there doesn’t mean there aren’t incredible chances for life.

For nearly 30 years, scientists have been discovering planets beyond our Solar System: the exoplanets of the Universe. We now know that practically every star has its own planetary system, and that most of them have rocky worlds that may even house liquid water on their surfaces. Where there’s water, there may be life, and finding the first evidence of life beyond Earth is still one of the holy grails of modern science. Less than two years ago, a scientific team from the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of Proxima b, the first exoplanet ever discovered around Proxima Centauri, the closest star in the Universe to our Sun. There are many things that Proxima b experiences that would make human life on that world nearly impossible, including the existence of spectacular solar flares striking it frequently. But despite that, life may be possible there after all. Here’s how.

A portion of the digitized sky survey with the nearest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri, shown in red in the center. While sun-like stars like our own are considered common, we’re actually more massive than 95% of stars in the Universe, with a full 3-out-of-4 stars in Proxima Centauri’s ‘red dwarf’ class. (David Malin, UK Schmidt Telescope, DSS, AAO)