Proxima is a faint red dwarf, 4.24 light-years away, the nearest star that is not the Sun. On 24 August 2016 Guillem Anglada-Escudé and colleagues announce a planet in an 11.2-day orbit.

The orbit sits where textbooks draw a habitable zone. The planet gets about two-thirds of Earth’s starlight, and far more X-rays. Proxima flares. No one has a picture of the ground.

Radial velocity gives a minimum mass, not a picture. Whether Proxima b has an atmosphere is unknown. Tidal locking is likely. Liquid water is a possibility on paper, not a finding.

This is the nearest other sun. If looking is ever going to become going, the list starts here. The list is not a timetable.