Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, and still need to confirm thousands more. And over the coming decades, we’ll probably learn of millions of planets, orbiting stars we’ve never heard of.
That’s why it’s reassuring to know astronomers are learning a tremendous amount about the closest star system to our own, Proxima Centauri. In fact, we now know of two planets orbiting the red dwarf star, one of which is in the habitable zone.
Thumbnail credit: NASA/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/D. Aguilar
Our Book is out!
https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/
Audio Podcast version:
ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2
RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio
Weekly email newsletter:
https://www.universetoday.com/newsletter
Weekly Space Hangout:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0-KklSGlCiJDwOPdR2EUcg/
Astronomy Cast:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHI67dh9jEO2rvK--MdCSg
Support us at https://www.patreon.com/universetoday
More stories at https://www.universetoday.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/universetoday
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/universetoday
Instagram - https://instagram.com/universetoday
Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com
Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw
Chad Weber - weber.chad@gmail.com
References:
https://www.universetoday.com/146262/powerful-telescope-confirms-theres-an-earth-sized-world-orbiting-proxima-centauri/
https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.03449
https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12114v2
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/3/eaax7467
https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20200602
https://www.universetoday.com/145697/astronomers-might-have-imaged-a-second-planet-around-nearby-proxima-centauri-and-it-might-have-a-huge-set-of-rings/
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.06685.pdf
https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2YkvWdUUNQ