Typing "Proxima b" into a search engine quickly yields an image of the newly discovered planet in all its purported glory. A sun hanging low above the horizon casts long shadows on a rough, reddish and rocky terrain. Two bright stars hover above its shoulder, growing ever brighter, with just a hint of a cloud in the distance.
Of course the image is little more than a fanciful artistic rendering, the sort of thing we might have seen on an episode of Star Trek, which made its debut on network television 50 years ago today.
Proxima b is real, yet exists mostly in the imagination. As with others on the growing list of "Earth-like" exoplanets found to be orbiting nearby stars, details are in short supply. The real reason for the intense interest and big headlines around the world was one simple fact - it is tantalizingly close.
In the words of one astronomer, it's like a neighbor is holding up a sign saying "Hey, look at me." How scientists might do so, though, is a vexing matter, given that we can't yet see it. Galactically speaking, Proxima b may be just around the corner. But the galaxy is a big place, and the corner is about 25 trillion miles away.
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