Habitable Planet Right Next Door

[Pyropyro]

An Epochal Discovery: A Habitable Planet Orbits Our Neighboring Star

Seems like our neighbor Proxima Centauri is harboring Proxima Centauri b, a rocky tidally-locked planet that resides in its "Goldilocks" habitable zone. Nicknamed "the Pale Red Dot" this planet may be able to support life if we can detect the presence of liquid water and an atmosphere.

*Puts on Giorgio A. Tsoukalos patented hairsprayed wig*

Nibiru ?!?

 

[TheScornedReflex]

Nibiru that orbits our second sun lol

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

There are already a few missions planned for α Cen. Breakthrough starshot is supposed to send a tiny probe on a light sail within 20 years.

It's unknown whether this planet is made of rock with any sufficient certainty.

Just to note, any planet may be able to support life even if we don't detect presence of liquid water or atmosphere (considering the distance and the dimness of the object it won't be possible to rule out the existence of water until we improve our technology or get close enough to survey it directly). It's only that the likelihood for what biologists expect life is like is higher on liquid water worlds. Being tidally locked decreases the optimal habitable zone to a band around the terminator.

 

[Pyropyro]

Nibiru that orbits our second sun lol

Nice try, Illuminaughty member! You're obviously here under orders from your reptillian overlords to provide disinformation.

There are already a few missions planned for α Cen. Breakthrough starshot is supposed to send a tiny probe on a light sail within 20 years.

Yep, would be awesome if we can actually develop a manned mission within those two decades.

Just to note, any planet may be able to support life even if we don't detect presence of liquid water or atmosphere (considering the distance and the dimness of the object it won't be possible to rule out the existence of water until we improve our technology or get close enough to survey it directly). It's only that the likelihood for what biologists expect life is like is higher on liquid water worlds. Being tidally locked decreases the optimal habitable zone to a band around the terminator.

It would be cool if we can find life that revolve around other liquids such as hydrocarbons. I think that's what they were talking about when they looked at Titan's methane lakes.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Assuming it's a solid body if they find an atmosphere or oceans of water then it will also allow for adequate heat transfer to the dark side of the planet so life won't be restricted to just a narrow habitable band.

So finding water (or any kind of liquid) there is doubly relevant since it's a basis for earth-like lifeforms and it helps with energy transfer around the globe.

The optimistic assumption is that life needs any energy source (could be a star, could be volcanic activity, etc) and an abundance of carbon or similar elements that offer a vast amount of possible complex molecular structures.

The discovery itself isn't certain at that point, similarly it doesn't have to rotate once for every year, it could have 3 days every 2 years or a similar proportional resonance (year = 11 days) which would allow for even light access to the surface.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

It zips around its namesake star every 11.2 days, and is likely locked in place—like the moon, which always shows the same face to Earth.

Sounds uncomfortable.

 

[Rook]

Lo! See now the prophecy, see how it forms and swirls, humans! Behold the future of your race!

Spoiler

 

[Pyropyro]

Lo! See now the prophecy, see how it forms and swirls, humans! Behold the future of your race!

Spoiler

Hype!

Dibs on Lady Deidre Skye

 

[Kuu]

20% light speed would take 20 years, mmmh.
Some 1950-80s proposed nuclear propulsion drives were expected to be between 4 - 10% which gives around 100 to 40 years.
At 1% light speed it would be somewhere around 400 years.

MMMHMH I'm calling it!

Spoiler

But really, it's 2016 and we still don't have Alcubierre drives? Lame! With our slower than light travel and lack of matrioshka brains we're surely the plebs of the galaxy.

The discovery itself isn't certain at that point, similarly it doesn't have to rotate once for every year, it could have 3 days every 2 years or a similar proportional resonance (year = 11 days) which would allow for even light access to the surface.

But where's the fun in that? I find the idea of a tidally locked planet holding life in the band between the light and the dark most interesting. Some good sci-fi shit right there.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

But where's the fun in that? I find the idea of a tidally locked planet holding life in the band between the light and the dark most interesting. Some good sci-fi shit right there.

Sure, I feel similarly. Note that orbital resonance is a form of tidal locking as well.

Simply put, the most basic locking we can think of is a 1:1 resonance, which is when a body faces the star with the same side all the time and the orbital eccentricity is 0 meaning that the orbit is nearly perfectly circular (which isn't significantly more likely than other options), there are various other periods possible as the orbital eccentricity moves away from 0. Also as I said, even 1% of the equivalent proportion of liquid would do a lot to evenly distribute the heat making the dark side a lot more warm so effectively only the side being blazed by the sun would be rather strictly inhabitable. (the narrow band idea assumes there's no liquid and minimal eccentricity and no volcanic activity at the very least)