What do we know about neighboring Proxima Centuri? Could life exist, as we know it, out there?

Answer 1

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, and is the smallest and most distant member of a triple star system.

Red dwarf star have a very narrow "life band", i.e. a zone where an hypothetical planet could have liquid water (as opposed to be too far so that all water is ice, or too close, where water is either vaporized or even blown out in space), so have very little chance of having a planet where life as we know it could exist.

Of course, there could be such a thing as life as we DON'T know it, so until we have the means to go check it out, this question may have to remain open.

The other stars of the triple system have more chance to have planets able to support "life as we know it", but because of the rather cahotic conditions two stars orbiting around another (as close together as the space between our sun and Saturn) the possibility of planets with stable orbits is thought to be quite low

Answer 2

Proxima Centauri is the closest known luminous body to the solar system, at about 4.3 light years distant. It is a red dwarf, and despite its very close distance, it is still not visible without a telescope! This tells you how dim it really is. In order to have an Earthlike planet orbiting it in close enough proximity to have liquid water, it would have to be far closer than Mercury is to our sun, and the planet would be gravitationally "locked" just as the moon is to us, always keeping one side facing the star. Furthermore, red dwarf stars are prone to what are called "flares" which can momentarily double or triple the brightness of the star, as well as generating huge amounts of dangerous charged particles which would be very dangerous to a planet orbiting so closely. It is hard to imagine a planet as large as Earth forming at a distance so close around so little a star, but I guess anything is possible. The best chance for an Earthlike planet, (or maybe a Marslike planet?) would be if the star were orbited by a "hot Jupiter" type world, with an Earthlike planet orbiting IT as a "moon", which would be gravitationally locked to the hot Jupiter, allowing for a decent day/night cycle of perhaps 24 hours or thereabouts, similar to say, Callisto (of our Jupiter) who orbits Jupiter every 16 hours or so, and is gravitationally locked to Jupiter. But far more interesting is Alpha Centauri A, which is essentially identical to our sun, and only a smidgeon farther than Proxima, although I heard recently that it is ~6 Billion years old. If there were an Earthlike planet orbiting it, it might be like visiting Earth 1.5 Billion years from now.

Answer 3

could?

would

if?

maybe?

see some facts:)

Answer 4

No.