What is out there?
Advertisement
Most importantly, it orbits its sun at the right distance to create a similar temperature range as Earth, which means that it is possible Proxima B contains water. Their experiments were based at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, as reported by the Guardian. Astronomers with the European Southern Observatory announced the news at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. The other is to look at a wobble of the star, which would be caused by the gravity attraction between the star and the planet (the planet also pulls the star towards itself). Alpha Centauri A is the fourth-brightest star visible from Earth, excluding our own sun.
“There is a reasonable expectation that this planet might be able to host life, yes.”
Scientists found a small Earth-sized planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our sun.
While the exoplanet orbits Earth’s nearest star, it is still four light-years away from our solar system, according to the ESO.
It’s tempting to get excited about an Earth-like planet that couldn’t be any closer, but there are some big unknowns. “If you tried to pick the type of planet you’d most want around the type of star you’d most want, it would be this, ” Nature quoted David Kipping, an astronomer at Columbia University in New York City as saying.
Nevertheless, Patel is thrilled over the discovery: “It is exciting”. The Starshot project has technology where a nanocraft could reach the system just 20 years after launch thanks to its light-driven propulsion system. In astronomical terms, this is quite close. [Image via Shutterstock] Therefore, this planet is the most viable option that scientists have so far of looking for extraterrestrial life. Oddly enough, Proxima b’s day actually lasts longer than its year.
The Kepler data has led to a statistical conclusion that perhaps 30 percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy host potentially habitable worlds.
Advertisement
Proxima b is only 7.5 million kilometres from its parent star – some 5% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun – and it takes just 11.2 days to complete one orbit. While Proxima b orbits its star at a distance closer than that of Mercury, he noted that its host star is much fainter than our sun, and thus the potential habitability of the new world can not be dismissed. “The search for life on Proxima b comes next”.
