Off Topic > Space News

New planet around Proxima Centauri

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gpt3:
Looks like Proxima Centauri is now up to three planets (Proxima b, Proxima c, and Proxima d).

* Layman article: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/our-suns-nearest-neighbor-has-another-planet
* Scientific paper: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2022/02/aa42337-21/aa42337-21.htmlAnyone want to catalogue their sizes/masses/orbits so that we can Spacemaster them into our games?

Garfunkel:
I wonder if at some point soon we'll have a 100% accurate view of both Alpha and Proxima Centauri? Maybe JWST will allow that.

TallTroll:
>> Maybe JWST will allow that.

Sadly not, although it will be a great improvement over Hubble. To get a proper look even at the Centauri system, we'll need a space based interferometer with a synthetic aperture in the tens of km at least, and preferably a couple of hundred (although that's getting more into tracking weather on those planets, and extending our "vision" out to a few light years by that stage). As remarkable as the JWST is, it still falls way, WAY short of anything that might properly be described as "good". If you  put it on a 0 - 10 scale, with 0 being Galileio finally being able to make observations not available to the Mk1 eyeball, and 10 being a Type II Kardashev civ being able to observe all objects in the Milky Way in all wavelengths and gravitational waves in more-or-less real time, the JWST is maybe a 1. Maybe.

On the flip side, look at how much we've learned already, even without the benefit of good equipment, and most observations having to have been made through the murky gunk of Earths atmosphere. Once we have some actually good observational data to work with,. who knows what we'll find?

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