Episode 666: Two Confirmed Planets at Proxima Centauri. One in the Habitable Zone!

Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, and still need to confirm thousands more. And over the coming decades, we’ll probably learn of millions of planets, orbiting stars we’ve never heard of. That’s why it’s reassuring to know astronomers are learning a tremendous amount about the closest star system to our own, Proxima Centauri. In fact, we now know of two planets orbiting the red dwarf star, one of which is in the habitable zone. Thumbnail credit: NASA/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/D. Aguilar Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio Weekly email newsletter: https://www.universetoday.com/newsletter Weekly Space Hangout: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0-KklSGlCiJDwOPdR2EUcg/ Astronomy Cast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHI67dh9jEO2rvK--MdCSg Support us at https://www.patreon.com/universetoday More stories at https://www.universetoday.com/ Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain Twitter: https://twitter.com/universetoday Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/universetoday Instagram - https://instagram.com/universetoday Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / [email protected] Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw Chad Weber - [email protected] References: https://www.universetoday.com/146262/powerful-telescope-confirms-theres-an-earth-sized-world-orbiting-proxima-centauri/ https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.03449 https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12114v2 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/3/eaax7467 https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20200602 https://www.universetoday.com/145697/astronomers-might-have-imaged-a-second-planet-around-nearby-proxima-centauri-and-it-might-have-a-huge-set-of-rings/ https://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.06685.pdf https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2YkvWdUUNQSupport Universe Today Podcast