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Alpha Centauri C is about 13,000 AU (0.21 ly; 1.9 × 10 ^ 12 km) from Alpha Centauri AB, equivalent to about 5% of the distance between Alpha Centauri AB and the Sun. [17] [57] [69] Until 2017, measurements of its small speed and its trajectory were of too little accuracy and duration in years to determine whether it is bound to Alpha Centauri ...
Proxima Centauri is a member of the Alpha Centauri star system, being identified as component Alpha Centauri C, and is 2.18° to the southwest of the Alpha Centauri AB pair. It is currently 12,950 AU (0.2 ly ) from AB, which it orbits with a period of about 550,000 years.
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]
Theoretical work by Alan Boss at the Carnegie Institution has shown that gas giants can form around stars in binary systems much as they do around solitary stars. [6] Studies of Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to the Sun, suggested that binaries need not be discounted in the search for habitable planets. Centauri A and B have an 11 au ...
In December 2017, NASA released a mission concept involving the launch, in 2069, of an interstellar probe to search for signs of life on planets orbiting stars in and around the Alpha Centauri system. [1] [2] The announcement was at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union. [3]
Understanding planetary habitability is partly an extrapolation of the conditions on Earth, as this is the only planet known to support life.. Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to develop and maintain an environment hospitable to life. [1]
The Earth's life-support systems are facing greater risks and uncertainties than ever before, with most major safety limits already crossed as a result of planet-wide human interventions ...
For example, the synodic period of the Moon's orbit as seen from Earth, relative to the Sun, is 29.5 mean solar days, since the Moon's phase and position relative to the Sun and Earth repeats after this period. This is longer than the sidereal period of its orbit around Earth, which is 27.3 mean solar days, owing to the motion of Earth around ...