You may have heard that a new exoplanet was discovered orbiting the red dwarf Proxima Centauri. It’s a mere 4 light years from Earth, though it would take us about 20 years to travel there. Scientists are quick to point out that this new planet, dubbed Proxima B, is in what they call the “habitable zone.” Basically, Proxima B’s distance from its respective star suggests the planet could contain liquid water and maybe even sustain life! The Facts But let’s back up for a second. While there’s no denying this news is incredibly exciting, there are a few factors we need to keep in mind before we start sending rockets full of space colonizers to another solar system. For one, we have no idea what the atmosphere of Proxima B is like. Scientists analyze planets and compare them to Earth using something called the Earth Similarity Index, or ESI. On the surface, Proxima B scores 0.87 out of 1. Sounds pretty good, right? However, Astrophysicist Dr. Katie Mack reminds us that our own neighbor Venus would potentially score a .9 on the ESI if it weren’t for its atmosphere of carbon dioxide and gaseous sulfuric acid. The other big hurdle is Proxima B’s, well, proximity to Proxima Centauri. The distance from Earth to our sun is roughly 92.96 million miles. By contrast, the distance from Proxima B to its star is only 4.35 million miles. Even our solar system’s closet planet, Mercury, is nearly 12 times as far from our sun--and Mercury’s average temperature is a staggering 332 degrees Fahrenheit. The only reason Proxima B does not burn up completely is because Proxima Centauri is a much smaller and less powerful star, yet we still don’t know how hot the new planet is exactly. The Question About Magnetic Fields This proximity creates another, very big problem: solar flares. According to IfWeAssume.com, Proxima Centauri is unlike other red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs are old stars nearing the end of their lives. As stars age, they tend to start rotating less rapidly and solar flares become less frequent. This is not the case for Proxima Centauri. If anything, scientists postulate that the star’s solar flares have actually increased! This leads astrophysicists to the understanding that Alpha Centauri’s magnetic field must be extremely powerful, keeping the planet spinning at a faster-than-normal rate, leading to frequent solar flares. In just 32 days of monitoring, scientists recorded 60 solar flares on Proxima Centauri! Contrast that with an average of one every few days from our much larger sun. Furthermore, now that scientists are suggesting Proxima B might be as large as Neptune (3.9 times the size of Earth), the question of the planet’s own magnetic field is raised. The size of the planet would leave a lot of surface area exposed to its star. To paraphrase Dr. Mack, if Proxima B does not have its own significant magnetic field, capable of deflecting heat and radiation, then the planet would be “zapped sterile.” In other words, Proxima B would look a lot like Mercury. So What Does It All Mean? These magnetic fields could be the deciding factors on whether or not the planet can sustain life. While our own sun still has its share of solar flares, we are much farther away and not as vulnerable thanks to Earth’s magnetic field. Proxima B on the other hand, is much more susceptible to all of its star’s solar flares, heat spikes, and UV radiation, especially if it has a weak magnetic field. While the discovery of a potentially habitable planet is definitely something to celebrate, we don’t know all the facts yet. We need more information to assess before we blast off into the final frontier. To stay up to date on all things Proxima B and other magnetic news, follow us on Twitter @ApexMagnets!