Would Proxima Centauri become a Black Hole? ( The second closest star to Earth).?

Question

I was just wondering, and what effects would it have on Earth? Or is it too far away from us?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Proxima is way too small to become a black hole - its even smaller than our sun.

A black hole can form when a star with at least 8 times the mass of our sun collapses.

And even if it did form a black hole, that wouldn't affect the Earth or our solar system at all.

A black hole of say 10 solar masses has the same effect on space as any other mass of 10 solar masses.

A black hole doesn't reach out beyond its gravitational influence - even if our sun suddenly became a black hole it wouldn't affect Earth's orbit (it would affect the sunlight and heat we receive, since a black hole doesn't emit heat or light).

Answer 2

No, it's nowhere near massive enough to form a black hole. Even if it did it would have no effect on us. The gravitational effects of a black hole are related to  it's mass not to the fact that it's a black hole.No change in mass no effect and long as it stays at its current distance.

Extra Note.

As Proxima Centauri is in a trinary  system there is a possibility that it could undergo a type 1a supernova some time in the VERY distant future - although it's more likely to happen to alpha centauri, and even then you don't get a black hole.

Answer 3

No, it cant because it is too small. A star needs to have a solar mass of at least 3-5 times the mass of the sun in order to trurn into a black whole. However, it has a a mass of .123 times of that of our sun.

Hope that helps! :D

Answer 4

i dont think that it is big enough to go supernova and even if it was it wouldnt be close enough to have major effects

Answer 5

Proxima Centauri is not large enough to form into a black hole on its own. Even if it could, it is far, far too small to have any noticeable effect on the Earth, unless one, we just happened to be unlucky enough to be right along its rotational axis, or two, it was small enough to explode within a relatively short time period. However both of these wouuld be extremely improbable even if it COULD form into a black hole. There are other, more distant stars that could pose a much larger threat to us than Proxima Centauri does, however the fact that life has survived fairly well on Earth for hundreds of millions of years suggests that radiation from black holes is unlikely to cause any damage to human civilization within the foreseeable future.

Answer 6

According to standard models of cosmology and QM models..no. PC is about 1/8 solar mass well below the chandrasekar limit of about 1.3 solar mass. Once it exhausts its hydrogen due to fusion there will be a grav collapse to a white dwarf star, but electron and neutron degeneracy pressure would exceed the relatively weaker gravitational force to condense it further. Anyway at a distance of 4.3ly, the grav field from a black hole of say even 100 sol masses would be insufficient to pull the solar system in.

Answer 7

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, smaller than the sun. It does not have the mass to become a black hole, to do this, a star has to be bigger than the sun.

And a black hole is simply a transformation of a star, that does not change its mass, and thus its gravitational field. A black hole does not increase its pull, if the sun we have was to turn into a black hole, it would remain in its place, and the earth would remain on the same orbit around it. Nothing would get "sucked" into it, unless they already were in an orbit that would have smashed in the sun in the first place.

Answer 8

It's not massive enough either to go supernova or become a Black Hole.  And that's good, because either a supernova or a black hole that close would be a problem for life on Earth.

Answer 9

proxima is not big enough to become a black hole. even if it undergoes a supernova explosion(which i dont think) it will eventually become a neutron star. therefore it is not a massive star so it will not become a black  hole. IF it becomes a  black  hole it will not affect in any way Earth because it is not close enough like sun..