The Earth next door

• Autores: Jacob Aron
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3088, 2016, págs. 8-9
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • It's the planet they have all been waiting for. Earlier this month, rumors swirled that astronomers had discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting the closest star to their own, the aptly named Proxima Centauri. Well, the planet's real, but don't pack their interstellar bags yet, because this alien world is probably far from homely. The planet--Proxima b--was discovered by astronomers who spent years looking for signs of the tiny gravitational tug exerted by a planet on its star, after spotting hints of such disruption in 2013. Proxima Centauri is 4.25 light years from Earth, making it slightly closer than the binary star system of Alpha Centauri, which the Proxima star is thought to loosely orbit. Here, Aron asks how much this brave new world is really like home.