Published in
Nature Research, Nature, 7617(536), p. 437-440, 2016
DOI: 10.1038/nature19106
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A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri
,
John Barnes,
Zaira M. Berdinas ,
R. Paul Butler,
Gavin A. L. Coleman ,
Ignacio de la Cueva,
Ignacio de la Cueva,
Stefan Dreizler,
Michael Endl,
Benjamin Giesers,
Sandra V. Jeffers,
James Stewart Jenkins,
Hugh R. A. Jones ,
Marcin Kiraga
and other authors.
Full text: Download
Abstract
At a distance of 1.295 parsecs(1), the red dwarf Proxima Centauri (a Centauri C, GL 551, HIP 70890 or simply Proxima) is the Sun's closest stellar neighbour and one of the best-studied low-mass stars. It has an effective temperature of only around 3,050 kelvin, a luminosity of 0.15 per cent of that of the Sun, a measured radius of 14 per cent of the radius of the Sun2 and a mass of about 12 per cent of the mass of the Sun. Although Proxima is considered a moderately active star, its rotation period is about 83 days (ref. 3) and its quiescent activity levels and X-ray luminosity(4) are comparable to those of the Sun. Here we report observations that reveal the presence of a small planet with a minimum mass of about 1.3 Earth masses orbiting Proxima with a period of approximately 11.2 days at a semi-major-axis distance of around 0.05 astronomical units. Its equilibrium temperature is within the range where water could be liquid on its surface(5).