How astronomers can learn more about Proxima b and all Earth-like worlds
The present story is only the beginning; there’s a revolution coming!
“Our existence in this place, this microscopic corner of the cosmos, is fleeting. With utter disregard for our wants and needs, nature plays out its grand acts on scales of space and time that are truly hard to grasp. Perhaps all we can look to for real solace is our endless capacity to ask questions and seek answers about the place we find ourselves in.” -Caleb Scharf
For thousands of years, humanity has wondered about the stars in our night sky, and whether they might have planets, life or even intelligent life around them. For all but the past 25 years, it was a question that was no more than speculation, as not even a single world was detected beyond our Solar System. As telescope technology and human ingenuity led us to the development of new techniques — most prominently the stellar wobble method and later the planetary transit method — the number of exoplanets discovered began to swell. Although the easiest planets to find were the first to show themselves, massive giants very close in to their parent stars, further improvements brought us to lower-mass, more distant planets, with Kepler uncovering thousands of rocky worlds, including a total of 21 potentially habitable…
