Earth-like planet NEARBY that scientists tout as humanity’s next destination

#Earth #Planet – Earth-like planet NEARBY that scientists tout as humanity's next destination : Reports emerged last week that the European Southern Observatory (ESO) had discovered the rocky planet using NASA's Kepler Telescope. The potential news excited stargazers but the ESO kept schtum at the time. However, they have now confirmed its existence.

The planet, which has been dubbed Proxima b, is located four light-years away – which is still in excess of 25 trillion miles – and orbiting the red-dwarf star Proxima Centauri. It is the closest habitable planet to Earth, meaning scientists could feasibly reach it within a lifetime.

How the view from the planet may look (FA)

Experts state that robotic crafts could be sent there in the not too distant future, and beyond that, if the atmosphere proves to be safe and technology makes it a possibility, it could one day be reached by humanity.

Proxima b is only five per cent of the distance that the Earth is from the sun to its star, but as the star is a red-dwarf, it is much cooler, meaning that the planet is still in the 'goldilocks zone' – the region of space around a host star where it is not too hot, nor too cold.

However, the planet is being bombarded by powerful ultraviolet rays and X-rays from Proxima Centauri so any life there would have needed to evolve to be equipped to deal with this.

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