Have we found a new planet

Nasa Space

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have found strong evidence of a giant planet orbiting a star in the stellar system closest to our own Sun, Alpha Centauri.  Visible only from Earth’s Southern hemisphere, the Alpha Centauri star system is made up of the binary Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B,  and the faint red dwarf star Proxima Centauri.  While there are three confirmed planets orbiting Proxima Centauri, the presence of other worlds surrounding Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B has proved challenging to confirm.  Now, Webb’s observations from its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are providing the strongest evidence to date of a gas giant orbiting Alpha Centauri A.  If confirmed, the planet would be the closest to Earth that orbits in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. However, because the planet candidate is a gas giant, scientists say it would not support life as we know it.

Transcript

00:00Scientists believe they've found a new planet, not in our solar system, but in the closest

00:05star system to Earth, called Alpha Centauri. Unlike our solar system, Alpha Centauri has

00:10three stars, Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B and Proxima Centauri. Now, Proxima Centauri

00:16has already got three confirmed planets, but finding planets around Alpha Centauri A and

00:22B has been more difficult. But now, using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers

00:27have found the strongest evidence yet of a planet around Alpha Centauri A. Now, could

00:32this planet support life? The planet does sit in what we call the habitable zone, so not

00:37too cold, not too hot, just right for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface. But

00:42this planet is a gas giant, so it's very unlikely to support life as we know it. But still, if

00:49this is confirmed, it's still a huge discovery. Among all the exoplanets that we've directly

00:54imaged, this one would be the closest to its star, the most similar in temperature and

00:59age to the giant planets in our solar system, and also the nearest to Earth.

01:03One thing that was horrendous.

01:04Can you tell me about this sort of thing?

01:07Well, if you think about this, everything that knows, it's a bit more likely, right?

01:11I can tell you, guess, if you're imaginary three, the most similar in the inner

01:16field, what happens, what happens, it's probably going to be the most similar in this

01:20moment when you're new.

01:21One thing that once it's implemented to the world, you'll look up to the world.

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