Proxima Centauri b
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Proxima Centauri b is a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the Sun's closest stellar neighbor. The planet is in Proxima Centauri's habitable zone and is a terrestrial planet a bit bigger than Earth, so it could be an Earth-like planet with lakes, rivers an ocean and complex extraterrestrial life. The planet is 7.5 million kilometres on average from Proxima Centauri and is likely to either be tidally locked or have an orbital resonance similar to that of Mercury. The biggest potential strike against Proximal b's habitability is that its star is prone to flares.
Proxima Centauri B Media
Velocity of Proxima Centauri towards and away from the Earth as measured with the HARPS spectrograph during the first three months of 2016. The red symbols with black error bars represent data points, and the blue curve is a fit of the data. The amplitude and period of the motion were used to estimate the planet's minimum mass.
Overview and comparison of the orbital distance of the habitable zones of Proxima Centauri compared to the Solar System
An angular size comparison of how Proxima will appear in the sky seen from Proxima b (96'), compared with how the Sun appears in our sky on Earth (32'). Proxima is much smaller than the Sun, but Proxima b is very close to its star.
Artist's conception of the surface of Proxima Centauri b. The Alpha Centauri AB binary system can be seen in the distance, to the upper right of Proxima.
View from Proxima Centauri b of Proxima Centauri, with Alpha Centauri A and B in the background. Generated with Celestia.
