Third exoplanet found around closest star to Earth

From Astronomy Magazine: https://astronomy.com/

Third exoplanet found around closest star to Earth

The planetary family around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth, just keeps growing.
RELATED TOPICS: EXOPLANETS
Artist's impression of Proxima d
An artist’s impression shows the small world Proxima d – a new planet recently discovered around the Sun’s nearest neighbor. ESO/L. Calçada

A little over four light-years away is Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun. And in August 2016, researchers announced they’d found a long-searched-for planet around Proxima Centauri, the smallest — and closest — component of this three-star system. Then, in January 2020, astronomers spotted a second world around Proxima Centauri. And now, the star’s family tree appears to be growing again: A third terrestrial planet has been found orbiting the nearest star to Earth.

A new addition

In a study published Feb. 10 in Astronomy & Astrophysics, astronomers announced the discovery of Proxima d. This tiny planet, weighing in at just one-quarter the mass of Earth, orbits Proxima Centauri every five days at a distance of some 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers), or less than one-tenth the distance of Mercury from our own Sun. But because Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf with only about 12 percent the Sun’s mass and 14 percent its diameter, this puts Proxima d in the star’s habitable zone, where conditions are just right for liquid water to potentially exist on its surface.

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