A planet has been found in the habitable zone of the closest star to Earth aside from our sun. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star, just 4.2 light-years from our solar system.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced the discovery at a press conference on Aug. 24.
The planet’s mass is at least 1.3 times that of Earth and it’s a lot closer to its sun than we are to ours (the distance between Proxima Centauri and the planet is 7 million kilometers, only 5 percent the distance between Earth and the sun).
But because the red dwarf star is more faint than our sun, the planet is still considered to be in a habitable zone where liquid water may exist.
European Southern Observatory (ESO) Director General Tim de Zeeuw speaks at a press conference at the ESO headquarters in Garching, Germany, announcing the discovery of a planet in a habitable zone relatively close to our solar system, on Aug. 24, 2016. ESO/M. Zamani
