Astronomers detect a new planet orbiting the star of the nearest neighbor of the Earth

Proxima Centauri could have a second planet orbiting its dull orbits, astronomers revealed at the conference that recently concluded on Breakthrough Talk. The candidate planet, nicknamed Proxima c, is not yet a confirmed observation, and observations filed as paper in a peer-reviewed publication have not yet been accepted. Nevertheless, the observers are quite enthusiastic to have observed a new exoplanet quite close to us and hope that other observations on Proxima will confirm its existence.

The observation was made via the Radial High Speed ​​Planets Detector (HARPS), which looks deep into the night sky to observe the gravitational anomalies caused by the orbiting planets, passing comets and other celestial objects. HARPS will continue its observations of Proxima c, with the help of the Gaia starship, operated by the European Space Agency. The observation of Proxima c will also help us evaluate the intrinsic properties of this planet and how its constituents are changing.

It is important to note that, despite the understandable excitement surrounding the discovery of a nearby exoplanet, Proxima is hardly a candidate for a potential life. It is already thought that Proxima b, which is part of Proxima Centauri's potential habitable zone, is a sterile world, where any possible atmospheric appearance has been swept away, probably by the bright bursts of its dwarf star. The absence of biosphere also means that there are polar temperature differences when it revolves around its axis. It means hot days and icy night nights, which are not suitable for life, even if the planet falls into the potential zone where, in theory, water could exist in liquid form.
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Proxima c, meanwhile, is located about 1.5 AU from its previous planet, located about 140 million kilometers from the potentially habitable area. As a result, temperatures on Proxima c will probably be uniformly freezing. Nevertheless, the latest planetary discovery denotes a technological feat for humanity, adding a new roadmap to potential interplanetary missions and observations. All this should help us to collect more data on the functioning of similar solar systems and to understand the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms in very distant worlds.