The living conditions on Proxima Centauri B turned out to be quite bearable.
Proxima Centauri b was recently discovered near the closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri. It is just over 4 light years away. You can fly sometime. It would be for what.
It would be, of course, frivolous to hope that at this very "B" we will meet brothers in mind. But the planet seems to have a chance to maintain at least some life. This is the conclusion reached by NASA specialists from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies) and scientists from Columbia University who joined them.
Anthony D. Del Genio and colleagues (Michael J. Way, David S. Amundsen, Igor Aleinov, Maxwell Kelley, Nancy Y. Kiang, and Thomas L. Clune) performed computer simulations based on the available information. We considered the worst option, according to which Proxima Centauri B fell into the so-called tidal capture and turned out to be facing its star on one side. That is, one hemisphere of her is illuminated and warmed, and the other is in darkness and cold. But even with such a "situation" on the planet there are conditions under which the water on the surface does not freeze - it remains liquid. Not everywhere, but in very extensive openings.
Computer simulation results: water here and there.
In an article titled Habitable Climate Scenarios for Proxima Centauri b with a Dynamic Ocean, published in the journal Astrobiology, researchers proved that the ocean on the planet is dynamic - water circulates in it and transfers heat from a warm illuminated part to a cold and dark one, melting thereby ice and forming polynyas.
Scientists have studied the behavior of 18 species of Proxima Centauri B, changing conditions. That is, they "introduced" certain continents, atmospheres of different thickness, composition and density into the model, made the ocean water more or less salty. And on all these planets there were places with open water. Which, in the end, made it possible to conclude that the planet near the star closest to the Sun does not have to be lifeless.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY
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