Lead
"The Three-Body Problem" is a classic of domestic science fiction novels, but unlike most of the other science fiction novels that describe the various stories of human beings exploring alien planets in interstellar voyages, this novel completely has a "dark forest" atmosphere.
Not only has human beings been full of fear of the existence of extraterrestrial life, but at the same time, there have even been various extreme behaviors between each other, destroying extraterrestrial civilizations.
And the "three-body" galaxy we are talking about this time is the real existence of the "three-body" galaxy in the novel.
In this event, the first planet Proxima Centauri B was discovered for the first time around Proxima Centauri, a star in the trisolarary galaxy, which happens to be within the range of the habitable zone.
So as the closest planet to Earth in Proxima Centauri, what will this planet look like?
What is the significance of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations?
1. "Three-Body Problem" Three-Body Galaxy.
Since Liu Cixin's publication of The Three-Body Problem in 2006, this book has quickly attracted many readers and become a bestseller among science fiction novels with its rich foresight and unique creativity, and the intertwined storyline shows the course of the entire universe.
In the background of the plot of the novel, the perspective of "The Three-Body Problem" is used to show readers a planet with three suns - the "Three-Body Problem" planet.
On this planet, day and night will be indistinguishable, and as the cycles of these three stars rotate, there will be extremely bad weather and extreme natural phenomena on the planet.
Whether it is the alternation of day and night, or the change of weather, there are always such frequent and sharp conflicts, resulting in the evolution of organisms becoming changeable and extreme.
This also makes it very difficult for life on this planet to survive and develop, and it also lays the foundation that this planet will never develop a powerful technology beyond imagination, and this kind of existence has almost no chance of existence like living creatures.
However, in reality, the three-body galaxy has abundant life resources.
Although the three stars in the Trisolar System are special, there may be planets suitable for life through their "habitable zone", which also leads to the study of the Trisolaran Galaxy.
In 2020, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) detected the presence of a new planet in Proxima Centauri, Proxima B, in another nearby Proxima Centauri around Sirius through its Pull-Beam Meter Telescope.
It is also located close to Proxima Centauri, and surprisingly this planet is located in the "habitable zone" of the star Proxima Centauri.
And, according to the researchers' description, the conditions of Proxima Centauri B are almost the same as those in the "three-body" galaxy with three suns described by Liu Cixin.
However, "Proxima Centauri B" has completely different characteristics from the "three-body" planet in the novel, so what kind of planet is this planet?
2. Proxima Centauri b.
As an "Earth-like" planet made of rock, it is 1.17 times the diameter and 1.17 times the mass of the Earth.
According to the researchers' estimates, Proxima Centauri b only needs about 11.2 days to orbit the main star due to its close proximity to the main star.
At the same time, Proxima Centauri B exposes the planet to about 1.2-1.4 times more radiation than Earth.
However, the radiation exposure to its stopping place is much larger, about 4-5 times that of Earth, and it is also exposed to interstellar radiation from extreme conditions such as stellar winds.
However, it is located in the "habitable zone" of Proxima Centauri, so what kind of planet will this planet be?
Because the radiation it receives is smaller than that of the Earth, and the size of the planet is about 1.17 times that of the Earth, it can be seen that it has the important resource "water resources" that the Earth has, and because it is only 0.05 astronomical units away from the main star, it is suitable for life.
At the same time, due to the shading effect of Proxima Centauri's radiation, the planet's equatorial climate may also become extremely hot, or even worse, than the more typical equatorial climate on Earth.
However, due to its extreme climatic conditions, it is impossible to determine whether it can be life-threatening.
At the same time, due to the greater radiation of the planet, the atmospheric environment that protects extraterrestrial life may be more challenging, and even the function of shielding radiation, and it may also be short-circuited when it encounters large-scale solar storms and other events, resulting in a large amount of intense radiation and even high-energy particles entering the atmosphere of the planet.
Therefore, the planet's magnetic field and atmosphere play a vital role in the protection of its life.
At the same time, due to the large amount of radiation it receives, the "oxygen" molecules in its atmosphere will also continue to undergo a series of reactions to form ozone, and the ozone in it can effectively block radiant light, and its blocking capacity is about "0.1%" of ozone.
However, the influence on atmospheric conditions also causes the temperature difference between day and night to be very large, and the temperature difference between day and night can reach up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
And some researchers believe that the number of bacteria is also reduced due to the fact that the radiant light in the star it receives effectively kills bacteria.
However, just like the surface of the "Three-Body Problem" planet in Liu Cixin's novel, it has experienced the radiation light of three stars, and it happens that there is also a mysterious force that secretly affects life on the planet.
3. Extraterrestrial life.
On Proxima Centauri b, there may be "liquid water" on its surface.
Liquid water could form a large "liquid ocean", which also provides a very good opportunity for the formation and evolution of organic life.
Liquid oceans may also form a stream of water, and may also provide nutrients for the evolution of living organisms.
And this flowing water may be on different planets and may form different shapes, which also indicates the diversity of life in the universe.
Just as on Earth, flowing water has created a variety of landforms, and under more extreme conditions, the landforms formed will become more unique, and the landforms formed in them may allow living organisms to develop a more unique way of evolution in this "uncertain future".
In the area where the water flows, there is a possibility of forming a river beach, and the deeper the river beach, the smaller the flow of water will be, or it may not flow, and this may also have the formation of "peat", and under more extreme conditions, there will also be rocks made of mud, sand and rocks, and the process of formation may be different.
Looking at Proxima Centauri B, the closest planet to us, its surface environmental conditions are relatively suitable for the existence of life, but under careful exploration, it has various extreme conditions, which also makes it face many challenges.
At the same time, how should we define the existence of organisms on planets with liquid oceans?
On planets with different conditions, the characteristics of organisms developed by them will be very different, and it may even be the existence of "semi-living organisms" such as "elevated heat", how can we discover and study those more primitive and evolved organisms?
How will the environment in which they live and the characteristics of the organism change?
Researchers need to develop new scientific and technological means to solve these problems.
epilogue
The search for a planet suitable for life may be unknown, or even an infinite future, and there is still a huge difference between the "distance" and "stargate" between the stars.
Breaking through the limit of the speed of light will be of great significance to human exploration of the universe and even the study of extraterrestrial life, while the "elongation" is still the main obstacle to the exchange of cosmic civilizations.