Scientists Found a Planet Orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star

Author yuvamind

Scientists have discovered a new planet, the nearest one ever detected outside our solar system. It is a small, rocky planet not unlike our own, orbiting the sun ' s closest stellar neighbor. Astronomers have long suspected that the star Proxima Centauri would be home to a planet, but proof had been elusive. Dim red dwarf stars such as Proxima have been found to host billions of small, closely orbiting planets throughout the galaxy. "It ' s so inspiring, it is our nearest star," Lisa Kaltenegger, a Cornell astronomer who wasn ' t involved in the new study, told The Washington Post.
Around 4.25 light years from the sun, Proxima is less popular than the Alpha Centauri dual star system it hangs around with. But while Alpha Centauri is made up of two rather sun-like stars, in fact, Proxima is nearest. It used to be that scientists were far more interested in stars like our own sun than in dim little gnomes like Proxima, but the times are changing - these types of stars are more common in the galaxy, and scientists now believe they might be just as capable of hosting life as more familiar looking suns. Proxima b will no doubt be dubbed "Earthlike" by many, but let ' s not jump the gun. 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, so it is blasted with enough radiation to maintain a balmy surface temperature of around minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. To call a planet "Earthlike," scientists have to show that a planet is likely to be rocky and capable of holding liquid water. If Proxima b has an atmosphere - a question unlikely to be answered anytime soon - then it could have a temperature quite close to Earth ' s, meaning it would at least be capable of maintaining liquid water on its surface. Even if Proxima b has an atmosphere and held water, the evolution of life is far from guaranteed. For one thing, we ' re working with a sample size of the Earth and have no idea how common the spark of life really is - even on planets that have all the same ingredients as the ones found at home. Anything that evolved on a nearby planet would have to live deep underground or underwater to survive - unless it evolved some level of protection from radiation that scientists on Earth can scarcely imagine. 31 scientists from eight different countries spent several months collecting data on Proxima. They were looking to build on previous indications of planetary presence, studying the "wiggle" in the star ' s light that would be caused by the seesaw gravitational pull between it and an orbiting planet (this is known as the Doppler method). Such a wiggle had been seen before, but the signal wasn ' t strong enough to prove a planet was there. If Proxima b proves to be a real planet - and one particularly worthy of study - a visit wouldn ' t be totally outside the realm of possibility. But even though Proxima is our nearest neighbor. At around 25 trillion miles away, a trip to Proxima b would be more than 8,000 times as long. At least one well-funded group is trying to develop the technology needed to propel a tiny probe into the Centauri system, but don ' t hold your breath. Then again, the detection of an Earthlike atmosphere on Proxima b would provide some excellent motivation. As Anglada-Escude said in a statement, "The search for life on Proxima b comes next."
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