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Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, [19] at a distance of about 4.2 ly (1.3 parsecs). [4] It orbits Proxima Centauri every 11.186 Earth days at a distance of about 0.049 AU, [1] over 20 times closer to Proxima Centauri than Earth is to the Sun. [20] As of 2021, it is unclear whether it has an eccentricity [e] [23] but Proxima Centauri b is unlikely to have any obliquity. [24]
Proxima b orbits within Proxima Centauri's habitable zone—the range where temperatures are right for liquid water to exist on its surface—but, because Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf and a flare star, the planet's habitability is highly uncertain.
The Earth-sized planet Proxima Centauri b is within the Alpha Centauri system's habitable zone. Ideally, the Breakthrough Starshot would aim its spacecraft within one astronomical unit (150 million kilometers or 93 million miles) of that world. From this distance, a craft's cameras could capture an image of high enough resolution to resolve ...
The planet, dubbed Proxima b because it orbits Proxima Centauri, is thought to be a rocky and slightly more massive than Earth -- but that's not all. Scientists discover Earth-like planet orbiting ...
Estimates place the probability of finding a habitable planet around Alpha Centauri A or B at roughly 75%. [11] Alpha Centauri is the target of several exoplanet-finding missions, including Breakthrough Starshot and Mission Centaur, the latter of which is chronicled in the 2016 documentary film The Search for Earth Proxima. [12]
The closest exoplanets are those found orbiting the star closest to the Solar System, which is Proxima Centauri 4.25 light-years away. The first confirmed exoplanet discovered in the Proxima Centauri system was Proxima Centauri b, in 2016. HD 219134 (21.6 ly) has six exoplanets, the highest number discovered for any star within this range.
Astronomers have found evidence of a third planet around the closest star to the sun, reinforcing the idea that planets are common around the stars of the
The closest system is Alpha Centauri, with Proxima Centauri as the closest star in that system, at 4.2465 light-years from Earth. The brightest, most massive and most luminous object among those 131 is Sirius A , which is also the brightest star in Earth's night sky ; its white dwarf companion Sirius B is the hottest object among them.