The recent discovery of a planet with some Earth-like qualities close to the Solar System has been long hoped for. Proxima b has been spotted by a team of astronomers based at QMUL, orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centurai. Proxima Centurai is a red dwarf – these are the most common stars in the Galaxy, and it was suspected many of them contained one or more worlds in temperate orbits. Now, with hard evidence at hand (Proxima b, but also Trappist-1 and a few other nearby systems), the quest for finding life beyond the solar system is on.

Join us in a panel discussion between esteemed guests, with QMUL's own Guillem Anglada-Escude, leader of the team that uncovered Proxima b, named as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. The panel features a diverse range of expertise, with popular science fiction writer Stephen Baxter (author of the sci-fi novel Proxima), Dr Louisa Preston (UK Space Agency Aurora Research Fellow, and an astrobiologist, planetary geologist and author) and reporter Elizabeth Gibney (Physics reporter for Nature Magazine) will moderate and contribute. The discussion will explore what we know, what we will learn in the next decade, how we imagine these worlds to be and how, someday, we might be visit some of them.

The discussion will be followed by a drinks reception in the same building.