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Prior to the discovery of Proxima Centauri b, the TV documentary Alien Worlds hypothesized that a life-sustaining planet could exist in orbit around Proxima Centauri or other red dwarfs. Such a planet would lie within the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, about 0.023–0.054 AU (3.4–8.1 million km) from the star, and would have an orbital ...
Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, [20] at a distance of about 4.2 ly (1.3 parsecs). [5] 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. [21] As of 2021, it is unclear whether it has an eccentricity [e] [24] but Proxima Centauri b is unlikely to have any obliquity. [25]
The nearest such planet was then as close as 12 light-years away [7] [8] but (see below) is now estimated slightly above four light-years away. On August 24, 2016, astronomers announced the discovery of a rocky planet in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth (not counting the
A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). Two exoplanets have been detected in the Alpha Centauri system, both orbiting the red dwarf Proxima ...
The closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri (PC), is still about 8000 times further away from us than Pluto. Propelling a probe to PC will require a much higher cruising speed than we can ...
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.
Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System, has three planets (b, c and d). The nearest system with four or more confirmed planets is Gliese 876 , with four known. [ citation needed ] [ a ] The farthest confirmed multiplanetary system is OGLE-2012-BLG-0026L , at 13,300 light-years (4,100 pc) away.
Additionally, astronomers have found 6 white dwarfs (stars that have exhausted all fusible hydrogen), 21 brown dwarfs, as well as 1 sub-brown dwarf, WISE 0855−0714 (possibly a rogue planet). The closest system is Alpha Centauri , with Proxima Centauri as the closest star in that system, at 4.2465 light-years from Earth.