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WHAT MAKES PROXIMA B UNIQUE?

Distance: This is the closest Earth-like planet we could ever find.

Orbiting our nearest star, the planet is only four light-years away.

Missions to send spacecraft to the planet to examine for signs of life are already in planning, and could happen within decades.

Composition: The planet is rocky and a similar size to Earth.

Temperature: It lies in the 'habitable zone' of its star, which means there could be liquid water on its surface - a key ingredient for alien life.

The temperature on the surface of the planet could be between -90° and 30° Celsius (-130 and 86 Fahrenheit).

Atmosphere: If Proxima B has an atmosphere, the simple ingredients - water, carbon dioxide, and rock - that are needed for the formation of biochemical cycles that we call life, could all be present and interacting on the planet's surface.

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