> On Aug 25, 2016, at 12:59 PM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
>
> This email was sent from yahoo.com which does not allow forwarding of emails via email lists. Therefore the sender's email address (xxxxxx@yahoo.com) has been replaced with a dummy one. The original message follows:
>
> Let's talk a little about the new earth-like planet planet that's been discovered recently, right next door.
>
> From what I've seen & heard, it's orbiting Proxima Centauri & is so far from Alpha Centauri A&B that they would appear as a single star to an observer in orbit around the planet.
> I must say I was surprised to see such a planet discovered around a red dwarf but, assuming that it is in fact 'earth-like', I wonder what it would be like on the surface.

Phil Plait has the best article so far of what I’ve read: <http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/08/24/exoplanet_discovered_orbiting_proxima_centauri.html>

All speculation about atmosphere, etc etc etc is just that, sheer speculation. We’re not even certain of the mass of the planet.

That said, I suspect we’re going to be looking at Proxima Centauri VERY closely for quite a while. I suspect it’s jumped to the top of the ‘reserved time’ for the Webb telescope.

Or there’s a team of Vilani-trained assault penguins on their way to sabotage the Webb scope right now :-P

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs