Astronomers Believe
They Have Found , a Third Planet , Orbiting Proxima Centauri.
According to a new study, our solar system's nearest neighbor may be host to three planets. .
'Scientific American' reports that
astronomers believe they have detected
a third planet circling Proxima Centauri. .
The Proxima Centauri system
is centered around a red dwarf star
just 4.2 light-years away from Earth. .
If the findings are confirmed, the candidate world, known as Proxima d, would be one of the lightest known exoplanets, coming in at just 25% of Earth's mass. .
The discovery shows that our closest
stellar neighbor seems to be packed
with interesting new worlds, within reach
of further study and future exploration, João Faria, study lead author and researcher at the
Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço in Portugal,
via 'Scientific American'.
'Scientific American' reports that Proxima d was detected using ESPRESSO, an instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile.
ESPRESSO relies on the radial velocity technique,
the detection of slight wobbles in a star's motion that
suggest the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. .
The team's findings were published on February 10
in the journal 'Astronomy & Astrophysics.'.
This achievement is extremely important.
It shows that the radial velocity technique
has the potential to unveil a population
of light planets, like our own,
that are expected to be the most
abundant in our galaxy and that can
potentially host life as we know it, Pedro Figueira, ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO in Chile, via 'Scientific American'.
This result clearly shows
what ESPRESSO is capable of
and makes me wonder about what
it will be able to find in the future, Pedro Figueira, ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO in Chile, via 'Scientific American'