Researchers confirmed on Wednesday the existence of an Earth-like and potentially inhabited planet, called Proxima b.It orbits our closest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri.
The discovery, published in the journal Nature, was made as part of a collaborative project with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other academic institutions.
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Because Proxima b is weaker than the sun, it could be within the "habitable zone" - the zone that is neither too hot nor too cold for humans - researchers said.
However, the scientists also said that Proxima b's habitability depends on its atmosphere. "You can come up with formation scenarios that end up with an Earth-like atmosphere, a Venus-like atmosphere, or no atmosphere at all," said one of the article's authors, Ansgar Reiners, according to AFP news agency.
Of the more than 3,500 "exoplanets" - a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun - Proxima b is also the only one within reach of a future space mission.
Scientists have calculated that Proxima b is about 1.3 times more massive than the Earth and probably rocky.
It lies only 7.5 million kilometres from its parent star, 5 per cent of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and takes just 11.2 days to complete one orbit.
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