Abstract
Last August, astronomers announced the discovery of a possible earth-like planet, Proxima Centauri b, orbiting our closet neighbor, the red dwarf Proxima Centauri. The planet orbits in the star's habitable zone (where liquid water can exist) and appears to be the right mass to harbor an earth-like atmosphere (although we don't know what atomosphere, if any, it has). After decades of searching, that's exciting to astronomers and surprising. In our own backyard! But there's a catch. Liquid water and an atmosphere are only two requirements for life