PROXIMA CENTAURI

Dec. 30, 2020

Astronomers at the $100 million Breakthrough Listen project, started by the legendary physicist Stephen Hawking, have recently picked up an “intriguing” radio wave emission from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun.

About:

  • The news has sparked renewed interest in Proxima Centauri, one of whose planets is believed to revolve in the star’s habitable zone, giving rise to the possibility that it could have, or does, sustain life.

  • Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away from the Sun – considered a close distance in cosmic terms.

  • Its mass is about an eighth of the Sun’s, and it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth.