Scientists recently discovered Proxima b, an exoplanet that could potentially host water and life.
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A planet with the possible presence of liquid water on its surface has been discovered orbiting Proxima Centauri, the Sun’s nearest neighbour, scientists have said, according to Reuters. It’s “only” 4.2 lightyears away (25 trillion miles), as the New York Times reported.
“Many exoplanets have been found and many more will be found, but searching for the closest potential Earth-analogue and succeeding has been the experience of a lifetime for all of us”, Anglada-Escude said.
Proxima b is the closest exoplanet to Earth and it’s 1.3 times bigger.
Astronomers from the University of Hertfordshire have played a key role in the discovery of Proxima b, which has been found in the Habitable Zone around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun. It’s not too far away from the star for water to freeze nor too close that water would boil away. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any life there.
“Succeeding in the search for the nearest terrestrial planet beyond the solar system has been an experience of a lifetime, and has drawn on the dedication and passion of a number of global researchers”.
Red dwarfs like the Proxima Centauri are very active stars, generating a good amount of powerful solar flares. At conventional speeds, it would take 80 thousand years to get there.
He said the first phase of the project over the next five to 10 years would involve a feasibility demonstration of the laser-driven light sail technology. “They are everywhere”, McDowell said.
Scientists have long studied Proxima Centauri, the new planet’s star.
“The search for life on Proxima b comes next…” Radiation from the red dwarf star could cause a much different climate on Proxima b than we have on Earth. “The galaxy is full of Earth-like planets”.
Professor Hugh Jones from the University of Hertfordshire explained: “Initial observations of the planet were made more than 15 years ago in March 2000”. That claim was met with suspicion by other astronomers, who later showed that it was unlikely to be real but a ghost signal from the past.
Although the planet’s parent star, Proxima Centauri, is cooler and redder than our Sun, one of the other two stars in the Alpha Centauri star system is very similar to our Sun.
An worldwide team of 31 scientists found the planet after careful and repeated measurements of slight shifts in the color of the light coming from its host star, Proxima Centauri, which is a small, dim star in the Alpha Centauri system.
What they found amazed them.
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This regular pattern repeats with a period of 11.2 days.
