Where is the real Three-Body World? Will it be the same as described in science fiction novels?

The TV series "The Three-Body Problem" is currently on the air. This TV series, adapted from the novel of the same name which won the world's top science fiction award, will bring people a confusing world. The Three-Body people described in it live in a space-time with three suns, experiencing an unimaginable cruel environment.

Does such a place exist in our real world? In fact, those who have some scientific knowledge know that the Trisolaran world described in "The Three-Body Problem" is based on a star system about 4.3 light-years away from us. There are really three suns there, that is, a triple star system composed of three stars.

This triple star system is called Alpha Centauri, also known as Alpha Centauri. It consists of three stars, A, B, and C. The largest star, A, is a star with a mass comparable to that of the Sun. Because it is very close to us, it is very bright, with an apparent magnitude of -0.01. The second star, B, is slightly smaller than the Sun, with a mass about 0.9 times that of the Sun, and is also dimmer, with an apparent magnitude of about 1.33.

Since the distance between stars A and B is relatively close, only about 3.6 billion kilometers, which is only equivalent to the distance between the Sun and Uranus and Neptune, the Alpha Centauri seen with the naked eye from our position is actually the overlapping brightness of these two stars, reaching an apparent magnitude of -0.27, making it the third brightest star in the sky.

Triple C is the smallest star among them, and it is disproportionately small, with a mass only 0.122 times that of the sun. Its brightness is also very weak, with an apparent magnitude of only about 11. It is completely invisible to the human eye and requires the use of a large astronomical telescope to be seen.

This star C is the star closest to us, only 4.22 light-years away, so people call it "Proxima Centauri". From the perspective of the universe, it is a close neighbor.

This triple star system is not like what is described in The Three-Body Problem, where the system moves without any regularity. Instead, it moves in a very regular way. The first and second stars are relatively close to each other, playing a duet with each other, while Proxima Centauri is 0.2 light-years away, orbiting the first and second stars in the system, and it takes 547,000 years to complete one revolution.

Although the novel "The Three-Body Problem" is written with this triple star system as the background, it only uses this triple star system as an introduction. The celestial environment and storyline are completely fictional. The Trisolarans, the Stable Era, the Chaotic Era, and the three suns raging irregularly in that world are all the author's fantasy and not the real situation of the Alpha Centauri system.

The latest observational research found that the nearest star to us, Proxima Centauri, has at least three planets, which are called Proxima b, Proxima c, and Proxima d according to the planet coding rules. But people know very little about the state of Proxima Centauri, because even in large astronomical telescopes, Proxima Centauri can only be seen as a dim red spot, and even the round surface of the star cannot be seen, let alone the planets.

Humans discovered these planets through the shading and gravitational perturbations they caused to stars as a result of their movement. Scientists analyzed and calculated the general situation of the planets they owned through the subtle changes in the spectrum caused by these phenomena. Then, through scientific modeling, they had a basic understanding of Proxima Centauri and its planets, and believed that Proxima b might have life.

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star, with a mass of only about one-ninth of the Sun and a diameter of about one-seventh of the Sun. Since red dwarfs have low core pressure and low nuclear fusion intensity, their brightness is weak. The surface temperature of Proxima Centauri is about 2800K, less than half of the Sun, and its brightness is only 1.55 thousandth of the Sun.

Thus, although Proxima b is only about 7 million kilometers away from its host star, which is only about 12% of the distance between Mercury and the sun, it is in the habitable zone of its host star, just like the Earth. The so-called habitable zone refers to the distance between the star and the planet, and the surface temperature of the planet formed at this distance is suitable for the existence of liquid water.

Because Proxima b is too close to its host star, researchers believe that it may have been tidally locked to Proxima Centauri, just like the moon is tidally locked to the earth, that is, its rotation and revolution are synchronized, one side is always facing Proxima Centauri, and the other side is always facing away from Proxima Centauri. In this way, the temperature of the side facing away from the sun is always hotter, while the temperature of the side facing away from the sun is always colder, with no seasonal changes.

There is also a guess that Proxima b forms a 3:2 orbital resonance with the sun like Mercury, that is, it orbits the sun twice and rotates three times, so that it is not always facing the sun, and with the change of seasons, the environment and climate are much better. Proxima b's revolution period is 11.2 days (Earth day, the same below), if it forms a 3:2 orbital resonance, the rotation period is 7.46 days.

If there is liquid water and a thick atmosphere on the surface of Proxima b, there is a possibility of life. When Proxima b is tidally locked to Proxima Centauri, these lives are likely to live in the twilight zone, that is, the junction between the daytime when the sun shines and the night when the sun does not shine. If Proxima b forms a 3:2 orbital resonance, the environment will be relatively mild, and the average temperature will be comparable to that of the Earth. In this way, the possibility and region of life will be greater.

So, will life on Proxima b be as terrifying as described in "The Three-Body Problem"?

Absolutely not. Because Proxima Centauri is in a stable triple star system, orbiting around the two main star systems A and B, and it takes 547,000 years to complete a circle. If the life on Proxima Centauri b had vision, it would only see one sun, which is Proxima Centauri; because the other two suns are 0.2 light years away from Proxima Centauri b, they only look like a star that is slightly brighter than Venus, with an apparent magnitude of about -6.66 (Venus is -4.6).

Therefore, the life on Proxima b will never experience the horror of the chaotic era in the science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem". They will only see a sun in the sky, which either shines motionlessly (in the case of tidal locking) or rises and sets every 7.46 Earth days (in the case of 3:2 orbital resonance), and live a peaceful life in the so-called "constant era" in "The Three-Body Problem".

So, is life on Proxima Centauri more comfortable than life on Earth? No, in fact, the environment there is much worse than on Earth. The main reason for this is that red dwarfs have the characteristics of flare stars. Flare stars are variable stars whose brightness often changes unpredictably, sometimes changing by several magnitudes in a few minutes, and then slowly recovering.

This change in brightness is caused by a large-scale flare in the stellar chromosphere. This violent explosion is accompanied by powerful radio and even X-ray bursts. Therefore, this explosion is fatal to life.

Proxima Centauri is a typical flare star. In 2019, scientists observed a huge optical flare erupting there, with a total energy output of 160 trillion joules, equivalent to 300 billion Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding at the same time. This radiation reaches Proxima b, which is only 7 million kilometers away, and the blow to life will be devastating.

This kind of huge energy flare will also appear on our sun, but it usually happens only once every ten to twenty years. Our earth is 20 times farther from the sun than Proxima b is from Proxima Centauri, so the threat is much smaller; on Proxima Centauri, this kind of explosion occurs every few weeks, which is the biggest threat to the existence of life on Proxima b.

Because of this, scientists believe that it is still uncertain whether the environment of Proxima b can allow the existence of life. Even if there is life, it may be some extremely low-level life. They may exist in the twilight zone, or may be hidden in the deep sea or underground, so they may be able to avoid these frequent bursts of deadly radiation.

In this way, even if there is life on Proxima b, although the living environment is not as terrible as described in the novel "The Three-Body Problem", it is still very difficult for it to survive and reproduce. If there are "or-level scientists" described in "The Three-Body Problem" there, when they observe a huge solar flare, the warning they issue will not be "dehydration immediately", but "dive immediately" or "drill underground immediately."

In February 2022, astronomers discovered the third planet of Proxima Centauri, Proxima d. This planet is closer to the main star, only 4.33 million kilometers away, with a mass of only about one-fourth of the Earth. It orbits Proxima Centauri once every 5.12 days, making it the smallest planet discovered outside the solar system so far. Research suggests that there may be liquid water and life on this planet, but I won't go into details today.

In short, a friend in need is a friend indeed. Human beings are full of interest and curiosity about this nearest stellar neighbor, hoping that there will be friends there who understand us.

Proxima Centauri is older than the Sun, about 4.85 billion years old, so the origin of life there may be older than that of the Earth. Red dwarfs have extremely long lifespans, and Proxima Centauri's lifespan can reach more than 100 billion years, or even 1 trillion years, which is hundreds of times longer than the Sun's lifespan. Therefore, life there will have a longer space for development than the solar system.

But we still don’t know what all this really looks like. We can only wait for the continuous progress of human science, the observation methods to be powerful enough, or the ability to send a probe to the scene to see it. How long will this take? This is another topic. Friends who are interested can pay attention to the article released by Space-Time Communication and discuss it together.

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