Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Próxima Centauri

	A team of astronomers have found clear evidence of a Planet Orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri.
Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

The long-sought world, Proxima designated b, orbits STIs cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature Suitable for liquid water to exist on STIs surface. This rocky world is a little more massive than the Earth and Exoplanet is the closest to us - and it may also be the closest possible abodes for life Outside the Solar System.

	The team led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé (professor at Queen Mary University of London and doctorate from the University of Barcelona), has found a tiny back and forth wobble in the star attributed to its gravitational interaction with the planet, which has been final data for the acceptance of the finding.
Credit: ESO/M. Zamani

The team was working in the Pale Red Dot Campaign analysing data from earlier observations made at ESO observatories and elsewhere. A careful analysis of the tiny Doppler shifts showed that they indicated the presence of a planet with a mass at least 1.3 times that of the Earth, orbiting about 7 million kilometres from Proxima Centauri — only 5% of the Earth-Sun distance.

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