From what astronomers observed, Proxima b is about 1.3 times the mass of Earth and orbits its parent star in just 11.2 days, which means you’d be several hundred years old by now if you lived there. For now, it’s called Proxima b, and it’s just over four light years away, Engadget reports. It’s in the southern sky, but it’s too dim to see with the naked eye.
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Although the new planet is by far the closest potentially habitable exoplanet to our solar system, it would still take more than 1,000 years to arrive using today best rocketry developed, according to Universe Today.
The Vice President of Astronomy at the Houston Natural Museum of Science believes the planet dubbed Proxima B is pretty special.
The planet might have liquid water, which is crucial to life as we know it.
“The spectacular finding about this, of course, is that this system is so close to our Earth and solar system”, said Angsgar Reiners, a German scientist who is among the research’s co-authors.
The discovery of a almost Earth-size planet orbiting the suns nearest neighbor is a major step toward confirmation that such worlds are, in fact, common.
“What’s wonderful is how close it is”, says Jeff Coughlin, a SETI astronomer working with NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting mission, who was not involved in the discovery.
Edward Guinan, an astronomer at Villanova University, says when he first learned of this new planet a couple of months ago, he seriously doubted that it would have any chance of being habitable. Succeeding in the search for the nearest terrestrial planet beyond the solar system has been an experience of a lifetime.
Because red dwarfs can mislead planet hunters by giving false signals linked to “star spots” – the equivalent of sun spots – the scientists had to be sure of their findings.
But that life might come long after we’ve died out, researchers said.
Without an atmosphere, Proxima b might not be too appealing though.
“The search for life on Proxima b comes next”, Anglada-Escudé said.
Scientists have found more than 3,000 planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets. It’s conceivable that we could send robotic probes to explore this planet in the coming decades. “It gives us the target and focus to build the next generation of telescopes and one day maybe even get to visit, ” adds Kipping.
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This means it could potentially support life, raising the possibility of future colonisation by humans.
