Possible Earth-like planet discovered by Proxima Centauri
Aug 24, 2016 9:46:04 GMT -8
JiminMD, hikingtiger, and 1 more like this
Post by BlueBear on Aug 24, 2016 9:46:04 GMT -8
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our Sun, some 4 light years away (still far, but closer than any other star, just beating out Alpha Centauri A & B). A small, rocky planet--about 1.3x the mass of Earth--lying within a "habitable zone" orbit around the star (where liquid water might exist) has recently been discovered.
New York Times coverage:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/24/science/space/proxima-centauri-nearest-exoplanet.html
The Nature journal paper is here:
A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri
Pretty exciting news if you ask me.
Still awhile till we could think about going there, but still.
- Mike
New York Times coverage:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/24/science/space/proxima-centauri-nearest-exoplanet.html
The Nature journal paper is here:
A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri
Pretty exciting news if you ask me.
Still awhile till we could think about going there, but still.- Mike
