Scientists Discovered a Strange New Planet Orbiting the Closest Star to Our Sun.
But it wasn’t a happenstance happy-go-lucky discovery.
It was a time-consuming and meticulous task that took the better part of a decade.
The great abolitionist and visionary Fredrick Douglas, who was certainly not an astronomer,
but was wise enough to create a legendary adage that proves relevant and accurate throughout
the ages and in all aspects of various fields said: “If there is no struggle there is
no progress.”
And with this proverb, scientists have spent many long years discovering that large object
that was floating around our solar system’s closest neighbor sun, called Proxima-d.
Prepare for some close encounters, and stay tuned-in until the end as some shocking discoveries
are brought to the forefront for the masses.
This newly discovered planet labeled Proxima-d is the third planet found orbiting Proxima
Centauri which is a red dwarf star about 4.24 light-years from our glorious yellow-radiated
Sun.
Unfortunately, since Proxima d is closer to its red dwarf star than Mercury is to our
Sun, astronomers reckon it’s too unlikely to host liquid water.
Yet astonishingly, it has gained the number 1 spot as the lightest exoplanet ever discovered.
As a matter of fact, Proxima-d is just a quarter of the mass of Earth, it orbits its sun, Proxima
Centauri, from 2.4 million miles or 4 million kilometres and completes an orbit in just
five Earth days.
According to the experts, low mass planets such as Proxima-d are expected to be the most
abundant in our galaxy and could potentially host life.
With this discovery came a sensation of relief as astronomers are ecstatic to find Earth-like
planets.
Here’s How It Was Found…
A team of astronomers used the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic
Observations which is simply known as ESPRESSO is an instrument on the European Southern
Observatory’s Very Large Telescope or ESO’s VLT in the Atacama Desert in Chile, South
America.
With the help of this tool and the ESO’s VLT, it took over two years of observations
to find Proxima d.
Researcher, João Faria, of the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço of
Portugal and lead author of the study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was quoted saying:
“Our closest stellar neighbour seems to be packed with interesting new worlds within
reach of further study and future exploration.”
Proxima d was found using the radial velocity of the host star.
To be clear, the radial velocity of an object with respect to a given point is the rate
of change of the distance between the object and the point.
So, the radial velocity is the component of the object's velocity that points in the direction
of the radius connecting the point and the object.
Is that definition lucid?
Well, let’s put it this way: a star wobbles if there are planets in orbit because they
all orbit a common center of mass.
And that’s how astronomers found Proxima-d.
Pedro Figueira, ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO in Chile, claims that “this achievement
is extremely important.
It shows that the radial velocity technique has the potential to unveil a population of
light planets.”
So far, the vast majority of exoplanets found are “super-Earths,” “mini-Neptunes”
and “hot Jupiters.
These findings clearly show ESPRESSO’s capabilities.
And it makes the space expert community anticipate its future findings.
Researcher and author Faria went on to espouse: “After obtaining new observations, we were
able to confirm this signal as a new planet candidate.
I was excited by the challenge of detecting such a small signal and, by doing so, discovering
an exoplanet so close to Earth.”
The discovery of Proxima-d follows the earlier discovery by astronomers of two other planets
around Proxima Centauri known as Proxima-b and Proxima-c.
Proxima b is an Earth-mass planet that orbits the star every 11 days and is within the habitable
zone.
Remember that the habitable zone is the region around a star where it is not too hot and
not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets.
So, astronomers are definitely keeping a close eye on Proxima-b.
As for Proxima-c, scientists are still anticipating discovering more which is no easy feat because
Proxima-c takes over five years to orbit its star.
Scientists do know, however, that it is a “super-Earth” or “mini-Neptune”, and
it lies outside the habitable zone.
Since a “Super-Earth, and mini-Neptune” have been mentioned twice in this presentation,
it’s vital that all listeners are up to speed with the terminology.
A super-Earth is a class of planets that are much more massive than Earth yet lighter than
ice giants like Neptune and Uranus.
Super-Earths are often made of gas, rock or a combination of both.
They are between twice the size of Earth and up to 10 times its mass.
Neptunian planets typically have hydrogen- and helium-dominated atmospheres, and are
about four times the size, or radius, of Earth and almost 17 times its mass, or weight.
Neptunian exoplanets may have a mixture of interiors though all would be rocky with heavier
metals at their cores.
Now, Let’s Take a Closer Look at Our Closest Neighbor Sun - Proxima Centauri…
Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to our sun at 4.22 light-years away.
It is home to at least 2 planets and massive solar flares, yet this has changed due to
the discovery of Proxima-d.
The red dwarf star known as Proxima Centauri isn’t visible to the eye, but it’s one
of the most recognized stars in the cosmos.
That’s due to the fact that Alpha Centauri star system is also home to three known stars
and the closest stellar system to our golden sun.
Of the three stars in Alpha Centauri, scientists believe Proxima is closest to us Earthlings.
There’s quite the confusion around Proxima Centauri, however.
Usually, when stars are so close to Earth, they appear bright in our sky.
For example, the star Sirius, which is located in the constellation Canis Major, is the brightest
star in Earth’s sky.
But this star is twice the distance from earth than Proxima Centauri at about 8.6 light-years
away.
So it’s very peculiar why Proxima Centauri isn’t brighter in our sky as it’s just
at 4.22 light years away.
And as previously mentioned, Proxima isn’t even visible to the naked eye alone.
Well, truth be told, Proxima Centauri is just too small for our naked eyes to register.
It’s a red dwarf star which is actually one of the most common sorts of stars in our
Milky Way galaxy.
It contains only about an eighth of our sun’s mass.
The faint red Proxima Centauri is only 3,100 Kelvin which burns at 5,100 degrees Fahrenheit
or 2,800 Celsius whereas our golden sun, commonly known as “Sol”, burns at 5,778 Kelvin
which is an astounding 500 times brighter than Proxima Centauri.
As for Proxima’s Location…
To spot Proxima, Earthlings should head to the Southern Hemisphere.
From there, look in the direction of the constellation Centaurus the Centaur.
Proxima is nearly a fifth of a light-year from Alpha Centauri A and B. Because it’s
so far from the two primary stars, some scientists question whether it’s really part of the
star system.
All of these nearby stars of Proxima, Alpha Centauri A and B, and our sun, orbit together
around the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Now, Let’s Delve Deeper Into the Planets Orbiting Proxima
Just relatively recently, in 2016, the European Southern Observatory or ESO as previously
mentioned, announced the discovery of Proxima-d’s brother, Proxima-b, which is orbiting Proxima
Centauri at a distance of roughly 4.7 million miles or about 7.5 million km with an orbital
period of approximately 11.2 Earth days.
According to studies, its mass is at least 1.3 times that of the Earth.
As for the best notion of Proxima-b, it is within the habitable zone of its star.
And for the bitter part of this scenario, a 2017 study suggests that the exoplanet does
not have an atmosphere akin to Earth.
Then, 3 years later, scientists announced that they had discovered a second planet orbiting
the star and it was dubbed Proxima-c.
This second planet of Proxima is a lot larger than Earth and orbits its star every 1,907
days.
It orbits at about 1.5 times the distance from its star than Earth orbits from the sun;
therefore it’s surely not within the habitable zone.
As a matter of fact, this entire solar system is very volatile.
Any planets around Proxima Centauri have to contend with massive flares that pop off the
red dwarf, which could very easily spell doom for the rocks rotating around the red dwarf.
Proxima Centauri Has Mega Flares that Are Out of this World
In April of 2021, Astronomers noted a flare or burst of radiation from Proxima that registered
to be 100 times more powerful than any flare seen from our sun.
This mega flare ranks as one of the most violent ever seen on a solitary star anywhere in the
galaxy.
So, it’s an understatement to say that these flares on Proxima could definitely doom chances
for life on its planets.
Yet, astronomers like R.O.
Parke Loyd of Arizona State University espouses notions of hope for life on these planets.
He said the verdict for life could actually go either way.
On the one hand, the flares will eventually decimate a planet’s atmosphere.
But on the other hand, it’s possible that the flares could provide the spark life.
The events that could happen around Proxima are endless.
And through all the discoveries, you can rely on Space Infinity to provide updated reports
for all the adamant star gazers of our world.
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