The media claim that scientists have found a planet that may be habitable
One of the planets in the closest star system may turn out to be a “second Earth” with favorable conditions for life. Writes about this Mail Online with reference to the German weekly Der Spiegel.
Our possible twin is orbiting the star Proxima Centauri, our Sun's closest stellar neighbor. Evidence that the planet may have habitat was found by researchers at the European Southern Observatory. Scientists will present a report with these assumptions to the public at the end of August, the German edition claims. The weekly notes: the representative of the observatory, Richard Hook said that he knew about the report, but he refused to confirm or deny that it would be about the found Earth's twin.
Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri star system and is only 4.2 light years from our solar system. If the planet really turns out to be favorable for life, then it will become the closest exoplanet to Earth.
Proxima Centauri was discovered back in 1915. It is one of the three stars of the Alpha Centauri system, a constellation visible from the Southern Hemisphere. The location of the planet in question is in the "habitable zone" of the star - the area around the star where the planet's surface is believed to hold liquid water.
Until this planet has a name, scientists refer to it as "the second Earth". With reference to anonymous sources, the publication claims that it can have liquid water on its surface - this is "an important condition for the emergence of life."
"For a century, astronomers have known about Proxima Centauri and considered it part of the ternary star system along with Alpha Centauri, A and B," the newspaper writes.
If all the data are confirmed, the likelihood increases that there are many more exoplanets in neighboring star systems that humanity can reach.
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Last year, NASA already announced the found "Earth's closest twin." It was the planet Kepler 452b. It is 60% larger than our planet, has a gravity twice as high as ours, a year here lasts 385 days. Kepler may have active volcanoes and oceans, and the planet also has a sun similar to ours. The only but significant disadvantage is that it is located 1400 light years away from us, so that humanity has practically no chance of reaching it in the foreseeable future.
NASA has found other exoplanets in the past, but most of them were too hot or too cold to have liquid water, or gas planets like Jupiter or Neptune.
