Stellar flares could make Proxima b more habitable

摘要

AS IT orbits the small red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the nearest system to ours, an exoplanet called Proxima b is pummelled by nearly constant stellar flares and cosmic rays. Until now, it was thought these might be damaging to potential life, but new research suggests the flares could actually help make the planet more habitable. Markus Scheucher at the Technical University of Berlin in Germany and his colleagues modelled how energetic particles from stellar flares and cosmic rays would affect the temperature of Proxima b.