Existence of Earth like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri confirmed

On May 30, 2020, the international team of scientists confirmed the existence of the planet that is of the size of the earth. The planet is revolving Proxima Centauri star in the Alpha Centauri star system.

Highlights

The planet has the mass of 1.17 times as that of the earth. The mass of the planet was measured using radial velocity measurements with the help of a spectrograph. The name of the spectrograph used to detect the planet mass is ESPRESSO.

The planet has been named Proxima b. Proxima b is 20 times closer to its star than the earth is to the sun. The new planet found orbits its sun in just 11.2 days.

Proxima Centauri

Proxima Centauri is located 4.2 light years away from the sun. It is a red dwarf star and is one-eighth the mass of the sun. The Proxima b was discovered in 2016 simply as a planet that is revolving Proxima Centauri. The recent discovery says that the planet is similar to that of the earth.

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the sun.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2020