2016

The habitability of Proxima Centauri b II. Possible climates and Observability

Turbet, Martin, Leconte, Jeremy, Selsis, Franck et al.

Understand

Radial velocity monitoring has found the signature of a $M \sin i = 1.3$~M$_\oplus$ planet located within the Habitable Zone (HZ) of Proxima Centauri \citep{Anglada16}.

Despite a hotter past and an active host star the planet Proxima~b could have retained enough volatiles to sustain surface habitability \citep{Ribas2016}.
Here we use a 3D Global Climate Model (GCM) to simulate Proxima b's atmosphere and water cycle for its two likely rotation modes (1:1 and 3:2 spin-orbit resonances) while varying the unconstrained surface water inventory and atmospheric greenhouse effect.
We find that a broad range of atmospheric compositions allow surface liquid water.

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