Exoplanet around Alpha Centauri is nearest-ever
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19959531
Alpha Centauri B is a "K" star somewhat cooler and less massive than the sun and Alpha Centauri A.
Proxima Centauri is a smaller "M" (red dwarf) star and there is disagreement among physicists whether it is gravitationally associated with the Alpha Centauri star system.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19959531
Astronomers have found the nearest planet outside our Solar System, circling one of the stars of Alpha Centauri just four light-years away.
The planet has at minimum the same mass as Earth, but circles its star far closer than Mercury orbits our Sun.
It is therefore outside the "habitable zone" denoting the possibility of life, as the researchers report in Nature.
However, studies on exoplanets increasingly show that a star with one planet is likely to have several.
At the very least, the work answers the question first posed in ancient times about planets around our nearest stellar neighbours.
The closest star to the Sun is Proxima Centauri, which is believed to be part of a three-star system that includes the brighter stars Alpha Centauri A and B.
The planet has at minimum the same mass as Earth, but circles its star far closer than Mercury orbits our Sun.
It is therefore outside the "habitable zone" denoting the possibility of life, as the researchers report in Nature.
However, studies on exoplanets increasingly show that a star with one planet is likely to have several.
At the very least, the work answers the question first posed in ancient times about planets around our nearest stellar neighbours.
The closest star to the Sun is Proxima Centauri, which is believed to be part of a three-star system that includes the brighter stars Alpha Centauri A and B.
Proxima Centauri is a smaller "M" (red dwarf) star and there is disagreement among physicists whether it is gravitationally associated with the Alpha Centauri star system.
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