Proxima Centauri, our nearest known stellar neighbor, is full of interesting planets. My question – when will we submit a probe for review?
eso2202 – Released Science
New planet discovered around star closest to the Sun
February 10, 2022
A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile has found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. our heaven. This candidate planet is the third discovered in the system and the lightest to be discovered orbiting this star. At just a quarter of Earth’s mass, the planet is also one of the lightest exoplanets ever found.
“Discovery reveals that our nearest stellar neighbor seems to be filled with exciting new worlds, within the reach of further research and future discovery.‘ explains João Faria, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Portugal, and the lead author of research published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun, located just over 4 light years away.
The newly discovered planet, named Proxima d, orbits Proxima Centauri at a distance of about 4 million km, less than a tenth of Mercury’s distance from the Sun. It orbits between the star and the habitable zone – the region around a star where liquid water can exist on the surface of a planet – and takes just five days to complete one orbit. Proxima Centauri.
This star has been known to host two other planets: Proxima b, an Earth-mass planet that orbits the star every 11 days and is in the habitable zone, and candidate Proxima c, located on a planet more than five-year-long orbit around the star.
Proxima b was discovered a few years ago use HARPS upper tool ESO .’s 3.6-meter telescope. Discovery confirmed in 2020 when scientists observe the Proxima system with a new instrument on ESO’s VLT more accurate, Echelle Imager for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectral Observation (ESPRESSO COFFEE). It was during more recent VLT observations that astronomers detected the first signs of a signal corresponding to an object with a five-day orbit. Because the signal was so weak, the team had to conduct follow-up observations with ESPRESSO to confirm that it was due to a planet and not simply the result of changes in the star itself.
“Having obtained new observations, we were able to confirm this signal as a new planetary candidate,“Faria said. “I was excited by the challenge of detecting such a small signal and in doing so I discovered an alien planet very close to Earth.”
At only a quarter of Earth’s mass, Proxima d is the lightest alien planet ever measured using the radial velocity technique,pass a recently discovered planet in the planetary system L 98-59. The technique works by picking up small fluctuations in a star’s motion caused by the gravitational pull of the planet orbiting. The gravitational effect of Proxima d is so small that it only causes Proxima Centauri to move back and forth at about 40 cm/s (1.44 km/h).
“This achievement is extremely important,“Pedro Figueira, ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO in Chile. “It suggests that radial velocity engineering has the potential to reveal a population of light planets that, like our own, are thought to be the most abundant in our galaxy and could potentially store life as we know it.”
“This result clearly shows what ESPRESSO is capable of and makes me wonder what it might find in the future.“Faria added.
ESPRESSO’s search for other worlds will be supplemented by ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), is currently under construction in the Atacama Desert, which will be important for discovering and studying many other planets around nearby stars.
More information
This study was presented in the paper “A candidate for a short period of sub-Earth orbit around Proxima Centauri” (doi: 10.1051 / 0004-6361 / 202142337) to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Team consisting of JP Faria (Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, Portugal) [IA/UPorto]Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Portugal [CAUP] and Departamento de Física e Astronomia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Portugal [FCUP]), A. Suárez Mascareño (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain [IAC]Departamento de Astrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain [IAC-ULL]), P. Figueira (European Southern Observatory, Santiago, Chile [ESO-Chile]IA-Porto), AM Silva (IA-Porto, FCUP) M. Damasso (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Italy [INAF-Turin]), O. Demangeon (IA-Porto, FCUP), F. Pepe (Département d’astronomie de l’Université de Genève, Switzerland) [UNIGE]), NC Santos (IA-Porto, FCUP), R. Rebolo (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain) [CSIC]IAC-ULL, IAC), S. Cristiani (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy [OATS]), V. Adibekyan (IA-Porto), Y. Alibert (Institute of Physics of the University of Bern, Switzerland), R. Allart (Faculty of Physics and Institute for Research on Outer Planets, University of Montréal, Canada, UNIGE ), SCC Barros (IA-Porto, FCUP), A. Cabral (Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal [IA-Lisboa]Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal [FCUL]), V. D’Odorico (OATS, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, Trieste, Italy [IFPU]Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy) P. Di Marcantonio (OATS), X. Dumusque (UNIGE), D. Ehrenreich (UNIGE), JI González Hernández (IAC-ULL, IAC), N. Hara (UNIGE), J . Lillo-Box (Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), Depto. De Astrofísica, Madrid, Spain), G. Lo Curto (European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany [ESO]ESO-Chile) C. Lovis (UNIGE), CJAP Martins (IA-Porto, Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Portugal), D. Mégevand (UNIGE), A. Mehner (ESO-Chile), G. Micela ( INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Italy), P. Molaro (OATS), IFPU), NJ Nunes (IA-Lisboa), E. Pallé (IAC, IAC-ULL), E. Poretti (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera) , Merate, Italy), SG Sousa (IA-Porto, FCUP), A. Sozzetti (INAF-Turin), H. Tabernero (Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain) [CSIC-INTA]), S. Udry (UNIGE) and MR Zapatero Osorio (CSIC-INTA).
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to uncover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class ground-based observatories – which astronomers use to tackle interesting questions and spread a passion for astronomy – and promote international cooperation in the field of astronomy. Founded as an intergovernmental organization in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 member countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands) Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with host country Chile and with Australia as Strategic Partners. ESO’s headquarters and visitor center and planetarium, ESO Supernova, are located near Munich in Germany, while Chile’s Atacama desert, a wonderful place with unique conditions for observing the sky, put our telescope. ESO operates three observation sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as two survey telescopes, the infrared VISTA and the Visible Light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Array South Telescope, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates APEX and ALMA on Chajnantor, two facilities that observe the sky in the millimeter and submillimeter range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s largest eye in the sky” – ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile, we support our activities in the country and engage with our partners and Chilean society.
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Contact
Joao Faria
Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto
Porto, Portugal
Tel: +351 226 089 855
Email: [email protected]
Pedro Figueira
ESO and Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciências do Espaço
Santiago, Chile
Tel: +56 2 2463 3074
Email: [email protected]
Nuno Santos
Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto
Porto, Portugal
Email: [email protected]
Mario Damasso
INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino
Turin, Italy
Tel: +39 339 1816786
Email: [email protected]
Alejandro Suárez Mascareño
Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
Tenerife, Spain
Tel: +34 658 778 954
Email: [email protected]
Baptiste Lavie
Département d’astronomie de l’Université de Genève
Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 379 24 88
Email: [email protected]
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The source: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2202/
We’ve had the technology to launch an affordable robotic interstellar mission since the 1950s.
After the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Manhattan scientists became interested in finding peaceful applications for nuclear bomb technology. One of their ideas is Orion ProjectUse nuclear bombs to propel spaceships.
Their most impressive hypothetical design, using an H-Bomb, is only good enough to power a spaceship (link – look for the term “momentum limit”).
Project Orion focuses on designs that can be carried by people. But what if instead of a large spaceship designed to limit acceleration to human tolerance, you built a decaying Chinese cannon ship, with a rigid payload? Acceleration can reach a level of thrust that can turn human astronauts into jelly?
Maybe, just maybe we can take a good look at our nearest neighbor and find out if it’s worth a second visit.
