Monday, August 29, 2016

Nearest star has Earth-sized planet

Big excitement over the latest exoplanet data. One report on the BBC says:
"Its data suggests Proxima b has a minimum mass 1.3 times that of Earth and orbits at a distance of about 7.5 million km from the star, taking 11.2 days to complete one revolution.
The distance between the star and its planet is considerably smaller than Earth's separation from the Sun (149 million km). But Proxima Centauri is what is termed a red dwarf star. It is much reduced in size and dimmer compared with our Sun, and so a planet can be nearer and still enjoy conditions that are potentially as benign as those on Earth."
I would expect we will hear much more about this planet in the coming years. Sorry no picture yet - those in the media are pure speculation but they do look interesting...