Researchers
have confirmed the existence of a SECOND Earth located in the Proxima Centauri
System. The planet is believed to have oceans just like Earth and may hay host
alien life. In the past, thousands of exoplanets have been discovered in the
universe, but none of them is like Proxima B.
Proxima b,
as has been baptized, has very ‘promising characteristics’: it is probably
rocky, slightly more massive than our own planet and is located in the region
around its star that would allow liquid water on its surface to exist.
Researchers
have discovered a planet located in the Proxima Centauri system, one of the
closest stars to Earth which they believe harbors liquid water and potentially
alien life. The planet, named Proxima B is believed to be around 1.3 times the
size of our planet and has the ideal temperature on the surface for water in a
liquid state to exist.
Proxima B is
located four light years away from Earth -over 25 TRILLION MILES—meaning that
in order to visit the planet in the near future, future generation would have
to come up with super-fast spacecraft that would allow them to travel to the
Proxima Centauri system with ease. If the planet proves to be ‘a SECOND Earth’
it could become one of the best options for future human colonization.
Researchers
believe that the temperature on the surface of the planet could be between -90
degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.
According to
researchers, Proxima B may be the best opportunity we have come across to find
DIRECT evidence of the existence of Alien Lifeforms outside of out solar
system.
The planet
which has already been dubbed ‘a second Earth’ is located at an ideal distance
from its host star for liquid water to exist, which means that life as we know
it is very likely to exist.
Proxima B is
the closest exoplanet we have ever discovered, and according to researchers, a
mission to the planet to search for signs of life could be something achievable
within our lifetime.
The distance
from our planet to Proxima B may seem insurmountable, but it is actually
formidably shorter when compared to other candidates to host life. This means
that Proxima B could become the first objective for future interstellar travel.
Proxima
Centauri is a red dwarf located in the constellation Centaurus. The star itself
is too weak to be observed with the naked eye, but in recent months, scientists
have not taken their eyes off of it.
In fact,
during the first half of this year, Proxima Centauri was followed regularly
with the HARPS spectrograph installed on the 3.6-meter telescope of the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla (Chile) and monitored
simultaneously with other instruments from around the world.
“Many
exoplanets have been found, and many more will be found, but searching for the
closest potential Earth-analogue and succeeding has been the experience of a
lifetime for all of us,” Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escudé, lead author of the paper,
said.“Many people’s stories and efforts have converged on this discovery. The
result is also a tribute to all of them. The search for life on Proxima b comes
next.”
There are
already two papers which describe and go through the potential habitability of
Proxima B.
Future
observations, for example using the 39-m ESO E-ELT telescope under construction
in Chile, will allow further investigation of Proxima b and of the hypothetical
presence of a thick atmosphere and a liquid water reservoir. If this turned out
to be the case, it would be very exciting that the nearest star to the Sun also
hosts the nearest habitable (perhaps inhabited?) planet.
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