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The Closest Exoplanet to Earth Just Got Doused With Deadly Flares

posted by fyngyrz on Wednesday April 11 2018, @07:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the stars-donating-plasma dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Amid much excitement in 2016, astronomers revealed the discovery of an Earth-sized planet around the star closest to our Sun, Proxima Centauri. This exoplanet, just 4.2 light years from Earth, was close enough to its red dwarf star that water might well exist on its surface.

Alas, now we know that life probably does not live on the planet, at least not on the surface. In March 2016, astronomers using an array of telescopes known as Evryscope observed a "superflare" 10 times larger than any previous one detected from the red dwarf star.

The arXiv. Abstract number: 1804.02001 (About the arXiv). Submitted to AAS Journals.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 12 2018, @04:27AM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday April 12 2018, @04:27AM (#665748) Journal

    Make a "Dyson shield" in geosynchronous orbit aimed at the star. Beam any energy collected to the surface.

    yes this idea is probably bullshit
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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:56AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:56AM (#665762) Journal

    You could, but to do it you'll have to consume the entire planet for the material.
    Better let the planet in place and bring in in its L2 point another planet and use it for habitation.

    shitty idea too, L2 is not a stable equilibrium point

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:26PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:26PM (#665932) Journal

      I doubt you would need to use the entire planet's mass to make a dyson-anything composed of relatively thin pieces that scatter the radiation.

      Another point to consider is that Proxima b's [wikipedia.org] minimum mass is estimated to be above Earth's: about 1.27 M⊕.

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      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:33PM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:33PM (#665940) Journal

        I doubt you would need to use the entire planet's mass to make a dyson-anything composed of relatively thin pieces that scatter the radiation.

        If you don't prop them somehow, thin and lightweight pieces will get blown away by the radiation pressure

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