Although the Proton Probe was launched at an extremely high speed, it had to begin decelerating midway. Upon reaching Proxima Centauri, it needed to unfold in two dimensions to collect detailed data on the entire Proxima Centauri system, which took a considerable amount of time.
Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away from the Blue Planet. It is a low-mass red dwarf with a mass of only about 1/8 that of the Sun and a diameter of only about 1/7 of the Sun's. Because of its small size, its lifespan is extremely long, estimated by scientists to be 4 trillion years.
Proxima Centauri, together with two other larger stars (roughly the same size as the Sun), forms a triple-star system—the very setting of the science fiction novel *The Three-Body Problem*.
Chapter 186