A team of researchers found traces of an earth-like planet circling Proxima Centauri, our nearest neighboring start, around four light-years away. Astronomers named the earth-like exoplanet Proxima d, the third object discovered in that solar system.
According to the researchers, it is much smaller than Earth. The exoplanet is only a fifth of the mass of Earth, making it one of the smallest earth-like exoplanets to ever be discovered. However, the researchers think that it is life-friendly.
Scientists are always looking for planets that could support life beyond Earth.
Earlier this year, astronomers announced the discovery of a new planet in the habitable zone of its star. It is just 39 light years away from Earth and has a surface made up of magma and lava.
The planet’s discovery is exciting because it means that humans will be able to go there and potentially find a new home in our lifetimes. This also looks like it would be perfect for humans given how close it is to Earth-like temperatures.
This may be the first step in a search for life on other planets, which could help lead to an answer as to whether or not humans are actually alone in the universe.
The first Earth-like planet that scientists have discovered outside of our solar system has been named Kepler-438b. According to NASA, it is the third closest planet to earth after Proxima b and TRAPPIST-1d.
The discovery was made by a group of astronomers from the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, the University of Liège, and the University of São Paulo working with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. The planet orbits its star every 180 days.
The Kepler telescope has been operating continuously for more than a decade, but has only recently found signs of an Earth-like planet.
It’s believed that it may be one of the best places in the universe to find life outside of Earth. It might have oceans, and it’s not too far away. However, if humans are going to be able to travel there, they will first need a way to reach it on short notice.
Astronomers discovered a planet called Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri in April 2016. Despite being 4.2 light years away from Earth it is relatively close enough for potential space travel and could even accommodate human life as we know it.
João Faria, the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço researcher from Portugal, was the lead author of the study and published a statement in the journal of Astronomy & Astrophysics. The statement said that the discovery shows that the closest star to our solar system is packed with interesting new worlds and is within reach of our future studies and explorations. The small planet is orbiting its star from a distance of 2.48 million miles, less than ten percent of the distance between the Sun and the closest planet. This makes the exoplanet’s revolutions just 5 Earth days long.
Regardless, Proxima d’s orbit is smack in the middle of the Proxima Centauri system’s habitable zone. This means the planet has a big chance of having liquid water on its surface. To put it in layman’s terms, the exoplanet may be capable of supporting life as we know it.
Faria and his colleagues discovered in the deserts of Chile using the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument placed on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
In the statement, Faria explained that after making the observations, they confirmed that this signal was a new planet candidate. They say they were excited by the challenge of detecting something so small but still turning out to be an exoplanet resembling Earth.
Experts were delighted to unveil a population of light planets, much like Earth, that are predicted to be able to house life as we know it. This is according to another expert, Pedro Figueira, the ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO. As technology develops, Laser Propulsion will take humans to the nearest stars within their lifetimes. With the funding and research in place, it will only be a matter of time before this happens.
