Proxima B A Nearby World Awaiting Discovery

Meet Proxima b: a 1.3-Earth-mass rock just 4.2 light-years away, whipping around a red dwarf every 11 days—likely eternal day on one side, night on the other. Astronomers spotted it in Proxima Centauri’s wobble (radial velocity), led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé—not by a direct image. It’s in the habitable zone but blasted by ~250x Earth’s X-rays; Breakthrough Starshot wants 0.2c chip-size laser sails to fly by and beam back pictures in about 24 years.