The closest exoplanet, Proxima B, could have a wide and cold neighbor

Our closest exoplanet discovery to date is Proxima B, which gravitates around the Proxima Centauri star located 4.2 light-years away from Earth. In orbit around a red dwarf, Proxima b is located in the habitable zone, which means that it could contain liquid water on its surface and that it is about the same size as the Earth, making it a fascinating target for planetary colonization dreams. It was previously believed that Proxima b was the only world hosted by Proxima Centauri.

But now, new evidence suggests that Proxima b could have a neighbor, Proxima c. Announced at the Breakthrough Initiatives conference this week, a team of scientists led by Mario Damasso of the University of Turin, Italy, and Fabio Del Sordo of the University of Crete, Greece, observed Proxima Centauri at using the Planets High Velocity Radial Planets (HARPS) researcher. ) instrument. HARPS is located in the La Silla Observatory in Chile and has been used to study the gravitational effects of planets in orbit.

Scientists have observed a "flicker" of Proxima Centauri suggesting that there may be a second planet orbiting it. This oscillation had already been observed, but was only of limited importance, but in recent years, a larger dataset has been collected. The analysis of this larger data set allowed to place the results on the territory of importance.

However, Damasso and Sordo were keen to point out that it was only a preliminary conclusion. "This is only a candidate," said Damasso during the presentation, according to Scientific American. "It's very important to emphasize."

Proxima c, if it exists, would be a super-Earth of about six times the mass of our planet. It would gravitate its star every 1900 days to 1.5 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, which would make it a cold and inhospitable place. Indeed, as a red dwarf, Proxima Centauri is smaller and darker than our sun. Thus, its rays would hardly reach enough Proxima to heat it, which would reduce the surface temperature.

So do not plan a colonization trip yet. But there could be another nearby exoplanet that we could visit someday.