1. Earth 2.0 Found?
Teacher
8/30/16

2. Who/What?
A rocky planet has been found orbiting our closest star, Proxima Centauri (4.2 light years away)
The planet is much closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun but the star is much dimmer/cooler than our star
The planet is within the “habitable zone” for liquid water to exist

3. When/Where?
The discovery was made by Guillem Anglada-Escude , from Queen Mary University of London, England who led the team.
August 25, 2016
Proxima Centauri is part of a triple-star system knowns as Alpha Centauri.
These stars are the closest to our sun.

4. Background
Many exoplanets (over 1,000) have been found but this is the closest exoplanet—and it may be earth-like!
The planet has been named Proxima b.
In order for life to exist on another planet, it has be the right distance from its star, otherwise the planet will be too hot or too cold making liquid water unlikely.
Distance in outer space is measure in light-years. A light- year is the distance light travels in one year (about 6 trillion miles or 671 million miles per hour).
Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away, or the distance light can travel in 4.2 years. It is cooler than our sun and has a reddish glow.

5. How
The planet was discovered by finding a tiny wobble in the position of its star. A planet’s gravity affects the gravity of the nearby star. This is called an “orbital tug”.
This graph shows the tiny wobble in Proxima Centauri’s motion, relative to earth.
The pattern repeats every 11.2 days, the planet’s orbital path around the star.

6. Why? This exoplanet is the closest one to our solar system!
Collecting information from this planet is feasible. There are currently several different plans to collect information about the planets atmospheric gases.
Research probes are a possibility. A research team hopes to put $100 million toward developing new technology to create and send a fleet of nanocraft toward Alpha Centauri using an Earth-based 100 gigawatt laser (this could accelerate them to about 20% the speed of light). This means that they could reach Alpha Centauri within 20 years…
Traveling at the fastest speed a spacecraft has ever traveled (32,000 miles per hour), it would about 90,000 years to get there.

7. References
encenewsforstu dents.org/article /suns-nearest- stellar-neighbor- may-have-earth- planet
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