Proxima b's star has a touch of the sun

• Autores: Rebecca Boyle
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3096, 2016, pág. 12
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In August, people learned that the nearest star to the solar system is likely to have a rocky, Earth-sized planet orbiting it--and now the star, too, turns out to be more like the sun than they thought. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf that was known to be just one-tenth the size of the sun and one-thousandth as bright. But it has been found to have a seven-year activity cycle, similar to the sun's 11-year one. At times in the cycle, up to a third of its surface is pockmarked by starspots, which can produce flares. But unlike the sun's relatively sedate flares, Proxima's raging flares and outbursts of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation could prove deadly for any life on its planet, Proxima b