A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri

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关键词: TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS;    MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS;    RADIAL-VELOCITY;    HABITABLE ZONE;    SOUTHERN STARS;    SUPER-EARTH;    SPACED DATA;    NO PLANET;    GJ 221;    SEARCH;   

DOI  :  10.1038/nature19106

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

At a distance of 1.295 parsecs(1), the red dwarf Proxima Centauri (a Centauri C, GL 551, HIP 70890 or simply Proxima) is the Sun's closest stellar neighbour and one of the best-studied low-mass stars. It has an effective temperature of only around 3,050 kelvin, a luminosity of 0.15 per cent of that of the Sun, a measured radius of 14 per cent of the radius of the Sun2 and a mass of about 12 per cent of the mass of the Sun. Although Proxima is considered a moderately active star, its rotation period is about 83 days (ref. 3) and its quiescent activity levels and X-ray luminosity(4) are comparable to those of the Sun. Here we report observations that reveal the presence of a small planet with a minimum mass of about 1.3 Earth masses orbiting Proxima with a period of approximately 11.2 days at a semi-major-axis distance of around 0.05 astronomical units. Its equilibrium temperature is within the range where water could be liquid on its surface(5).

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