Proxima Centauri

October 11, 2016

Artists rendering of firey planet with inset indicating gas flow — Download hires_20.jpg

An artist's illustration depicts the interior of a low-mass star. Such stars have different interior structures than our Sun, so they are not expected to show magnetic activity cycles. However, astronomers have discovered that the nearby star Proxima Centauri defies that expectation and shows signs of a 7-year activity cycle.

Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

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Proxima Centauri Might Be More Sun-like Than We Thought

In August astronomers announced that the nearby star Proxima Centauri hosts an Earth-sized planet (called Proxima b) in its habitable zone. At first glance, Proxima Centauri seems nothing like our sun. It’s a small, cool, red dwarf star only one-tenth as massive and one-thousandth as luminous as the sun.
- October 11, 2016
- News Release
- Astrophysical Observatory

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Proxima Centauri Might Be More Sun-like Than We Thought