A planet in the Goldie Locks zone confirmed on nearest neighboring star system.
It's official. The European Southern Observatory (ESO), arguably the most productive astronomical observatory on the planet, has confirmed an 'Earth-like' planet that would be a good candidate for life orbiting the closest star outside of our Solar System, Proxima Centauri. The planet is designated Proxima b, orbiting it's parent star every eleven days within it's Goldie Locks Zone. This rocky planet is similar to Earth, though it is larger, with temperatures that are suitable to sustain liquid water on it's surface.
Artists rendition of the view of the surface of Proxima b, courtesy of ESO.org
Proxima b is closer to it's star than our planet is to our yellow Sun due to Proxima Centauri being a much cooler red dwarf. Don't plan on any visits in the near future though, Proxima b is over four light years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.
This picture is courtesy of NASA.gov and Penn State University.
Want to know more? You can find ESO release here and technical information here
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