Ever since Alpha Centauri Bb turned out to be a false positive, we believed there weren't any planets in the Alpha Centauri system, 4.26 light years away from our Sun, and scientists were upset about no exoplanets existing within 5 light years.
Also, it was never confirmed in the first place.
Recently, on August 24, 2016, Scientists have detected a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri via Doppler Spectroscopy (Stellar Wobble), only 4.224 light years.
The planet is believed to be 1.1x the diameter of Earth and 1.3x the mass, though it's only an average, as it's uncertain what its exact diameter and mass is.
It orbits Proxima Centauri for 11.2 days at a mean Semi-major Axis of 0.0485 AU, and has an orbital eccentricity of 0.35, it's rotation period is 7.5 days due to a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance (like Mercury).
Ever since the discovery of Proxima Centauri b, I've thought about making a simulation, but one user made one about it and posted the video on YouTube.
The appearance made so much sense.
Here's the body and simulation (body goes in the "Bodies" folder, and the simulation goes in the "Simulations" folder) (Polyphemus & Pandora from Avatar are on it orbiting Alpha Centauri A).
Despite it's surface appearance, it's unlikely that it's habitable to the majority, as it is being blasted by Proxima Centauri's stellar wind, at 2000x the power of our Sun's solar wind, it's orbital eccentricity is extreme, and that its rotation period is 2/3rds that of its orbital period (it's habitability is most likely in the terminator).
And even more recently, scientists believe there's water on the planet (also giving the video enough sense), based on the geometry of the planet detected within the data.
Topic: Proxima Centauri & New Exoplanet (Read 11143 times)
