Proxima Centauri ‘Earth-like’ planet

Proxima Centauri ‘Earth-like’ planet

Proxima Centauri 

 

Proxima Centauri was discovered by in august 2016, and is located over 4.2 billion light years, it’s the closest planet found out side our solar system in 20 years, it also sits perfectly in the habitable zone, where its not too hot nor too cold, for water to exist, which is one of the big conditions for a planet.

due to the distance it is from our planet, it makes it hard to identify if theirs any signs of life.

James Manners from University of Exeter stated:

“One of the main features that distinguishes this planet from Earth is that the light from its star is mostly in the near infra-red,”

However a lot more research and work is required before they fully understand if this planet can host life.

Facts and Information

Distance to Earth: 4.243 light years or 25 trillion miles from Earth
B−V color index: 1.82
U−B color index: 1.26
Absolute magnitude (MV): 15.60
Apparent magnitude (J): 5.357 ± 0.023
Luminosity (visual, LV): 0.00005 L
Mass: 0.123 ± 0.006
Radius: 0.141 ± 0.007
Estimated mass is at least 1.3 times that of the Earth.
Orbital period of approximately 11.2 Earth days
More Information can be found on: https://www.nasa.gov/proxima-centauri
Proxima Centauri planet