Proxima (Paperback)

Paperback. The nearest world. The biggest question. In 2016, astronomers confirmed the existence of a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri - the closest star to our Sun, just 4.24 light years away. That planet, Proxima Centauri b, sits within its star's habitable zone, has roughly the mass of Earth, and may be the most important world ever discovered. In Proxima, science writer Marcus Veylan tells the complete story of this extraordinary world - what we know, what we suspect, and what the answer to the oldest question in science might mean for our place in the universe.What it means to orbit a violent red dwarf - and why that may not be fatal to lifeThe discovery that stunned the scientific community and captured the world's imaginationWhy tidal locking, stellar flares, and atmospheric loss are the three threats every nearby habitable world must surviveBreakthrough Starshot - the audacious plan to send a spacecraft to another star within our lifetimeHow the next generation of Earth-based telescopes may detect life on Proxima b without ever leaving our planetWhat it would mean - for science, for philosophy, for every human being - if the nearest world turned out to be inhabitedThe answer to the question of whether we are alone may lie at the nearest star. Proxima brings that question into focus - and makes the science behind it accessible, urgent, and impossible to put down. From the author of the Space Science Series, Alien Oceans, and The Feeling of Now. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…