The discovery of the planet Proxima b in 2016 was a real sensation. An earth-like object located at the closest star to the solar system, Proxima Centauri, just 4.24 light years from us, and even seems to be a very promising candidate for the presence of life - how can you not be happy? Unfortunately, the new results of observations of the exoplanet shatter all our hopes for its habitability potential, not to mention our desire to someday send a spacecraft there for research.
An artistic representation of the outburst of the star of Proxima Centauri, created on the basis of the obtained observations of the luminary.
After analyzing data collected by the network of radio telescopes ALMA (Atacama Large Antenna Array of the Millimeter Wave), scientists recently found that the star Proxima Centauri in March 2017 threw out into space a colossal flash. If any form of life existed on the planet Proxima b, then the flash, which turned out to be 10 times more powerful and brighter than the brightest and most powerful flash on our Sun, simply burned it out.
"March 24, 2017 turned out to be an unusual day for both the star Proxima Centauri and the planet Proxima b," Meredith McGregor, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution, said in a press release from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
From the analyzed data, McGregor's scientific team found that within just 10 seconds, the brightness of the star Proxima Centauri increased 1000 times that day. Moreover, the entire event as a whole (including the previous less bright flash) lasted less than two minutes. But during this time, the planet Proxima b has been exposed to radiation levels 4,000 times higher than the radiation that the Earth is usually exposed to during solar flares.
For all living things that could be at that moment on the surface of the planet, this event, most likely, was the last.
“It is very likely that all life, if any, on the planet Proxima b, was destroyed by the colossal energy radiation generated by this outbreak. In the billions of years since its formation, Proxima b may have experienced flares like this one. The force of the last flare was so great that it would have evaporated any atmosphere or ocean without any problems, effectively sterilizing the planet's surface. From this we can also conclude that not only the "correct" distance from the star to the planet should play a decisive role in determining the habitability potential of a particular world, but also talk about the possibility of liquid water on the planet's surface, "McGregor added to the press release.
New telescopes are currently in development that will allow us to take a closer look at the planet Proxima b, as well as help find out if it contains any life (which is unlikely under the circumstances). Even if it turns out that the exoplanet is uninhabited, then new knowledge about it can help us in the search for life on other planets, outside the Centauri system. For example, in the same system TRAPPIST-1, several planets of which, at least for now, look promising.
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Dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri are one of the most common types of stars in our galaxy. And we have already managed to find quite interesting planets near some of them. But if we take into account that such stars are very prone to such events, as the example of Proxima Centauri described today shows, then the only chance for the survival of any life forms on planets located near such stars will be existence somewhere deep underground.
Nikolay Khizhnyak
