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Anomaly exoplanet 82 EP

Proxima Cen b

RA 217.3935° · Dec -62.6762° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
82 pts · Anomaly
Anomaly 95 pts → Mythic
  • In the habitable zone +30
  • Stellar next door (<10 ly) +25
  • Earth-sized +16
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
Total score 82

13 more points to reach Mythic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • In the habitable zone · +30
  • Earth-sized · +16
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Stellar next door (<10 ly) · +25

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Goldilocks zone. Sits where it's neither too hot nor too cold — liquid water could exist.
  • Next-door neighbour. One of the closest objects of its kind to the Sun.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. A multi-generation starship could one day attempt the crossing.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 74.6 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 6626 years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 42.4 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 4.2 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 2022.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 8.5 years round-trip.

Standing on it

  • A year here. A full year lasts just 11.2 Earth days.

By the numbers

  • Size. Almost exactly Earth-sized.
  • Mass. About 1.1× the mass of Earth.
  • Your weight. You'd weigh about 1.0× your Earth weight standing here.
  • Temperature. A frigid -55°C — colder than dry ice.

How we found it

  • Discovery. Found by European Southern Observatory using the radial velocity method.

Cosmic context

  • Crowded system. One of at least 2 planets orbiting its star.

Properties

density gcc
5.46
discovery facility
European Southern Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
dist ly
4.2439
eccentricity
0
eq temp k
218
habitable zone
yes
insolation
0.641
mass earth
1.055
name
Proxima Cen b
orbital period days
11.1846
radius earth
1.02
sys num planets
2

About Proxima Cen b

Proxima Cen b is an anomaly exoplanet. It lies about 4.2 light-years from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature near 218 K, spans roughly 1.02 Earth radii and weighs about 1.05 Earth masses.

Sits where it's neither too hot nor too cold — liquid water could exist.

How to see it

Like any astronomical target, Proxima Cen b is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why Proxima Cen b is an anomaly exoplanet

Proxima Cen b scores 82 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the anomaly tier. Another 13 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, In the habitable zone, Earth-sized, Multi-planet system and Stellar next door (<10 ly) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.

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Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.