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How to Characterize Proxima b's Atmosphere episode artwork

Nov 7, 2026 8 min

How to Characterize Proxima b's Atmosphere

from Cool Worlds Hosted by Cool Worlds

As regular watchers of the channel may remember, this summer astronomers announced the discovery of a potentially Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Sadly, research at the Cool Worlds Lab was unable to find any evidence that Proxima b transits its star, which is a blow for those hoping for near-term characterization of its atmosphere. But! Dr Jayne Birkby comes to the rescue and explains here how an alternative technique should work if we can wait a few years! Thanks to Jayne for visiting the lab and giving us all some hope for Proxima!::More about this Video::► Dr Jayne Birkby homepage: http://home.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~birkby/wordpress/► Snellen et al. (2010), "The orbital motion, absolute mass, and high-altitude winds of exoplanet HD209458b": https://arxiv.org/abs/1006.4364► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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How to Characterize Proxima b's Atmosphere

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