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Nature. 2016 Aug 25;536(7617):437-40. doi: 10.1038/nature19106.

A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri.

Author information

1
School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
2
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Glorieta de la Astronomía S/N, E-18008 Granada, Spain.
3
Department of Physical Sciences, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
4
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington DC 20015, USA.
5
Astroimagen, C. Abad y Lasierra, 58 Bis, 6-2, 07800 Ibiza, Spain.
6
Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
7
McDonald Observatory, the University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway, C1400, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
8
Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
9
Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science &Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK.
10
Warsaw University Observatory, Aleje Ujazdowskie 4, Warszawa, Poland.
11
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
12
Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon-CC 72, 34095 Montpellier Cédex 05, France.
13
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
14
Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstrasse 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.

Abstract

At a distance of 1.295 parsecs, the red dwarf Proxima Centauri (α 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 Sun 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 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.

PMID:
27558064
DOI:
10.1038/nature19106
[Indexed for MEDLINE]

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