Astronomers on the $100 million "Breakthrough Listening" project recently picked up radio waves emission from Proxima Centauri's direction (the closest star to our Sun). Physicist Stephen Hawking initiated the Breakthrough Listen project.

 Highlights:

♦ The news sparked interest in Proxima Centauri. One of Proxima Centauri's planets is believed to revolve in the star's habitable zone, thereby increasing the possibility of or sustaining life.

♦ Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away from the Sun.

♦ Its mass is about one-eighth that of the sun, and it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth.

Key Facts About Proxima b:

♦ Proxima b, one of the two planets orbiting the star, is the subject of intense curiosity.

♦ Proxima b is 1.2 times the size of the Earth, orbits the star every 11 days, located in the Proxima Centauri’s Goldilocks zone.

♦ The Goldilocks zone is the area around the star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets (e.g. Earth is in the Sun’s Goldilocks zone).

♦ However, this does not mean that there is water on Proxima b.

♦ It could also be hostile to life, if its atmosphere has been stripped away by solar flares from Proxima Centauri