Scientists have discovered what they believe to be a new planet, the closest one ever detected outside our solar system. It is a small, rocky planet not unlike our own, orbiting the sun's closest stellar neighbor.
Scientists have discovered a planet that they think is similar to Earth. They're calling it Proxima b and it is just 4.2 light years from Earth. (Reuters)
Astronomers have long suspected that the star Proxima Centauri could be home to a planet, but proof had been elusive. Dim red dwarf stars like Proximahave been found to host billions of small, closely orbiting planets throughout the galaxy. Now a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature provides the best evidence yet for a tantalizingly close target on which to seek alien life.
"It's so inspiring, it's our closest star," Lisa Kaltenegger, a Cornell astronomer who wasn't involved in the new study, told The Washington Post. "A planet next door. How much more inspiring can it get?"
This animation shows what it may be like to travel from our planet to the nearest Earth-like planet. (European Southern Observatory)
Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. (ESO/G. Coleman)
Artist's impression of the surface of Proxima b. (ESO/M. Kornmesser)
Located about 4.25 light-years from the sun, Proxima is less famous than the Alpha Centauri binary star system it hangs around with. But while Alpha Centauri is made up of two rather sun-like stars, Proxima is actually closer. It used to be that scientists were far more interested in stars like our own sun than in dim little dwarves like Proxima, but the times are changing — these types of stars are far more common in the galaxy, and scientists now believe they might be just as capable of hosting life as more familiar looking suns.
[You wouldn’t be a happy camper if you relocated to Proxima Centauri’s planet]
This animation shows what it may be like to travel from our planet to the nearest Earth-like planet. (European Southern Observatory)
Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. (ESO/G. Coleman)
Artist's impression of the surface of Proxima b. (ESO/M. Kornmesser)
Located about 4.25 light-years from the sun, Proxima is less famous than the Alpha Centauri binary star system it hangs around with. But while Alpha Centauri is made up of two rather sun-like stars, Proxima is actually closer. It used to be that scientists were far more interested in stars like our own sun than in dim little dwarves like Proxima, but the times are changing — these types of stars are far more common in the galaxy, and scientists now believe they might be just as capable of hosting life as more familiar looking suns.
[You wouldn’t be a happy camper if you relocated to Proxima Centauri’s planet]
The proposed planet comes to light not long after a would-be-world orbitingAlpha Centauri B was determined to be nothing but a fluke in the data. Scientists know that most stars in the galaxy harbor planets, but we've had difficulty finding our closest companions in the cosmos.
Proxima b will no doubt be dubbed "Earthlike" by many, but let's not jump the gun. Here's what we know: The planet, based on statistical analysis of the behavior of its star, is quite likely to exist. Beyond that, we know very little.
Proxima b orbits its parent star every 11 days. Because of the method used to detect it, we don't actually know how massive the planet candidate is — but we can say with confidence that it's at least 1.3 times as massive as the Earth. It's just over 4 million miles away from its cool, tiny red dwarf of a star (much closer than we are to our own sun), so it is blasted with enough radiation to maintain a balmy surface temperature of around minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Based on what we know about the planets that form around red dwarf stars, it's probably rocky — like Earth, Venus and Mars — and is likely tidally locked, meaning that one face of the planet constantly stares at the sun while the other half is left in darkness.
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