NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect evidence of artificial light on the nearby exoplanet Proxima b, astronomers predict.

The study, by a team  including controversial Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, suggests that the optical telescope can be configured to spot evidence of LED light on the planet Proxima b, orbiting Proxima Centauri 4.2 light years from the Earth. 

Proxima b was discovered in 2016 and is thought to be a rocky terrestrial planet slightly larger than the Earth, that some scientists predict could contain liquid water. 

It orbits very close to its small red dwarf star, so is likely to be tidally locked with a permanent night side, and Loeb suggests a civilisation may deploy powerful mirrors or require very bright LED-style lights to illuminate their cities.   

They suggest that using the near infrared instrument on the James Webb telescope and looking for the telltale signs of LED light waves in the light from the planet and its host star, they will be able to detect this artificial light if it exists. 

Professor Loeb has spent more than a decade prediction the existence of aliens and suggesting ways they may be discovered. 

He is involved in the Breakthrough Starshot project to send laser-boosted light sails on a trip to Proxima Centauri at high speeds, reaching the star in decades.