Third planet discovered at Proxima Centauri
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Proxima Centauri is the closest of the stars that surround the solar system. We are only 4 light-years away. Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have reported the discovery of another planet next to this star, which is probably only slightly larger than Mars.
Proxima d (this is the temporary name for the new planet) is four times less massive than Earth, slightly more than two times "heavier" than Mars. It orbits very close to Proxima Centauri – about four million kilometers away (less than a tenth of Mercury's distance from the Sun). It only needs five days to complete one orbit around the star. So it is too close to its sun for rivers and oceans and life as we know it. It is outside the so-called zone of life, the region around the star where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. In the zone of life, there is Proxima b, the first planet discovered in this system six years ago (also by astronomers from ESO).
Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that is much less massive, smaller, and cooler than the Sun. Discovered in 1915, it is located just over 4 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus (in the southern sky). It shines with such a faint glow that it is not visible to the naked eye from Earth.
Not far from it is a binary system of much brighter stars Alpha Centauri – perhaps Proxima is associated with them and together they form a triple system.