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Habitability

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The habitability of Proxima Centauri b has not been established, but the planet is subject to stellar wind pressures of more than 2,000 times those experienced by Earth from the solar wind. This radiation and the stellar winds would likely blow any atmosphere away, leaving the subsurface as the only potentially habitable location on that planet. The exoplanet is orbiting within the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, the region where, with the correct planetary conditions and atmospheric properties, liquid water may exist on the surface of the planet. The host star, with about an eighth of the mass of the Sun, has a habitable zone between ∼0.0423–0.0816 AU. In October 2016, researchers at France's CNRS research institute stated that there is a considerable chance of the planet harboring surface oceans and having a thin atmosphere. However, unless the planet transits in front of its star from the perspective of Earth, it is difficult to test these hypotheses. Even though Proxima Cen...
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Future observations

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A team of scientists think they can image Proxima Centauri b and probe the planet's atmosphere for signs of oxygen, water vapor, and methane, combining ESPRESSO and SPHERE on the VLT. The James Webb Space Telescope may be able to characterize the atmosphere of Proxima Centauri b, but there is no conclusive evidence for transits combining MOST and HATSouth photometry, giving it less than a 1 percent chance of being a transiting planet. Future telescopes (the Extremely Large Telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope, and the Thirty Meter Telescope) could have the capability to characterize Proxima Centauri b. citation needed The discovery of Proxima b was significant to Breakthrough Starshot, a proof of concept project aiming to send a fleet of miniature probes to the Alpha Centauri system. The project is led by research company Breakthrough Initiatives, and plans to develop and launch a fleet of miniature unmanned spacecraft called StarChips, which could travel at up to 20% of the sp...
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Physical characteristics

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Mass, radius, and temperature edit The apparent inclination of Proxima Centauri b's orbit has not yet been measured. The minimum mass of Proxima b is 1.17  M ⊕ , which would be the actual mass if its orbit were seen edge on from the Earth. Once its orbital inclination is known, the mass will be calculable. More tilted orientations imply a higher mass, with 90% of possible orientations implying a mass below 2.77  M ⊕ . The planet's exact radius is unknown. If it has a rocky composition and a density equal to that of the Earth, then its radius is at least 1.1  R ⊕ . It could be larger if it has a lower density than the Earth, or a mass higher than the minimum mass. Like many super-Earth sized planets, Proxima Centauri b might have an icy composition like Neptune, with a thick enveloping, hydrogen and helium atmosphere; the likelihood that this is the case has been calculated to be greater than 10%. The planet has an equilibrium temperature of 234 K (−39 °C; −38 °F), somewhat cold...
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