Closest Earth-Like Planet Found Could Be Reached Within Our Lifetime

Scientists and Researchers have made a break through discovery, a sister planet like Earth and its closes enough that we might be able to reach within our lifetime.

Proxima b, is an exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. It is located about 4.2light-years (1.3 parsecs, 40 trillion km, or 25 trillion miles) from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus. In August 2016, the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of Proxima b, an Earth-like planet orbiting within the habitable zone.

The planet is at a distance of roughly 0.05 astronomical units(roughly 7 million km or 5 million miles), with an estimated mass of roughly 1.3 times that of the Earth, and an orbital period around Proxima Centauri of approximately 11.2 terrestrial days. Moreover, the equilibrium temperature of Proxima Centauri b is estimated to be within the range where water could exist as liquid on its surface, thus placing it within the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri. 

It is the closest known exoplanet to the Solar System, as well as the closest potentially habitable exoplanet known. The planet was found using the radial velocity method, where periodical Doppler movements of spectral lines of the host star suggest an orbiting object. From these readings, the component of its velocity relative to the Earth is about 5 km/h (3 mph).

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