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We already know the age of Proxima Centauri: 4.85 billion years old. The same age as Alpha Centauri AB. Furthermore, we also know the metallicity of Proxima Centauri: 0.21 dex or 1.621 Z⊙. The metallicity of Alpha Centauri A is 0.20 dex or 1.585 Z⊙, and Alpha Centauri B has a metallicity of 0.23 dex or 1.698 Z⊙. Which means that none of the stars in the Centauri system are first generation stars.Buzz Bloom said:I have another question regarding the possibility that Proxima b might sustain life. What are the chances Proxima is a 1st generation star? Is so, this would mean that Proxima b would not be able to sustain life (as we know it) since it would not have any carbon.
Red dwarf stars have a very long lifetime. Many (most?) of them will be 1st generation stars, that is, stars that do not include post primordial elements, aka "metals", created by super novae. It seems very likely that Proxima was created about the same time and from the same material that Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri were created, but is this certain?
If yes, then since there is a reasonable likelihood that Alpha Centauri is a 2nd generation star, and therefore Proxima would be about the same age. Alpha's mass, 1.1 M☉, gives it a life time (slightly less) and a possible age similar to our sun, but I have not been able to find on the Internet anything specific about whether Alpha might be a 1st generation star. Presumably someone might know from Alpha's spectrum if this is so or not.
If on the other hand, is there is a significant chance that Proxima was created as a 1st generation star, and was later gravitationally captured by Alpha and Beta?
ADDED
Sorry I did not notice post #29 which gives an approximate age for Alpha and Beta.
@CygnusX-1: Does this imply these stars are 2nd generation?
Source:
A Family Portrait of the Alpha Centauri System - European Southern Observatory Science Release, March 15, 2003
A physically-motivated photometric calibration of M dwarf metallicity - Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 519, September 2010
Asteroseismology and calibration of α Cen binary system - Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 392, Number 1, September 2002