Rumored Exoplanet May be Closest Earth-Like Planet Ever Discovered
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) may announce the discovery of a new Earth-like exoplanet at the end of the month, according to the German publication Der Spiegel. The planet would be the closest Earth-like exoplanet in the Goldilocks Zone ever discovered, a mere 4.25 light years from Earth.
The planet reportedly orbits in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that's around the size of Jupiter. As its name suggests, it is also very very close to the Alpha Centauri star system (Proxima is circled in red in the image above), and likely is part of a triple star system with Alpha Centuri A and B. It's possible, Der Spiegel notes, that the planet could have surface water.
Der Spiegel's anonymous source claims that the planet was discovered at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. La Silla is home to the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), considered one of the most advanced telescopes to be "dedicated to the discovery of extrasolar planets." The team responsible for finding the still-unnamed planet was taking observations "at the limit of measurement [that] is technically feasible," according to the source.
Just because the planet may meet some conditions for life does not mean life is there, of course. "Like many younger M-dwarfs," writes Paul Glister on Pale Red Dot, "Proxima is prone to sudden, violent flares, producing sudden changes in brightness to Earth observers and cascades of deadly particles for any life forms on a planet." The star's flares don't necessarily mean life couldn't exist on an orbiting planet, but it will take additional spectral analysis to learn about the conditions around Proxima. Hopefully the ESO announces the planet in the coming weeks, name and all, and then the work can begin to figure out what the world is like.
Source: Der Spiegel via Gizmodo
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