GENEVA — A team of specialists from the University of Geneva has confirmed the existence of an exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of a neighboring sun.
Researchers have confirmed the presence of Proxima Centauri B, an exoplanet that orbits in the habitable zone of the star closest to our sun, Proxima Centauri, according to a report published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Researchers from the University of Geneva were able to confirm its existence by using a new generation spectrograph located in Chile called ESPRESSO.
Their observations showed that Proxima B is 1.17 times the mass of Earth and orbits its sun in 11.2 days.
Proxima B receives similar energy from its sun and could, therefore, harbor life.
However, this exoplanet's sun is an active red dwarf and it hits the exoplanet with roughly 400 times the amount of X-rays that Earth receives.
