'Proxima B': This new 'Earth like' wet planet may support alien life

According to a new study an 'Earth-like' planet orbiting our closest neighbouring star, Proxima Centauri, about 4.2 lightyears away may have liquid water and the potential to support alien life.

The planet Proxima B was discovered in August last year, and is thought to be of similar size to Earth, creating the possibility that it could have an 'Earth-like' atmosphere.

Scientists from the University of Exeter in the UK have embarked on their first, tentative steps to explore thepotential climate of the exoplanet.

Early studies have suggested that the planet is in the habitable zone of its star Proxima Centauri - the region where, given an Earth-like atmosphere and suitable structure, it would receive the right amount of light to sustain liquid water on its surface.

Now, experts have undertaken new research to explore the potential climate of the planet, towards the longer term goal of revealing whether it has the potential to support life.

Researchers simulated the climate of Proxima B if it were to have a similar atmospheric composition to our own Earth.

The team also explored a much simpler atmosphere, comprising of nitrogen with traces of carbon dioxide, as well as variations of the planets orbit.

This allowed them to both compare with, and extend beyond, previous studies.

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The results showed that Proxima B could have thepotential to be habitable, and could exist in a remarkably stable climate regime.

However, much more work must be done to truly understand whether this planet can support, or indeed does support life of some form, researchers said.

"Our research team looked at a number of different scenarios for the planet's likely orbital configuration usinga set of simulations," said Ian Boutle, lead author of thestudy published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"One of the main features that distinguishes this planetfrom Earth is that the light from its star is mostly in thenear infra-red," said James Manners, from University ofExeter.

"These frequencies of light interact much more stronglywith water vapour and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere whichaffects the climate that emerges in our model," said Manners.

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Researchers also found different even with configuration sregions of the planet are able to host liquid water.