Scientists discover ‘closest Earth-sized exoplanet to date’, close enough to study atmosphere

An international team of scientists has found a new planet so close to Earth it is possible to study the atmosphere using optical telescopes.

The exoplanet (a planet that circles a star other than our Sun) circles the star GJ 1132 and has been given the identifier GJ 1132b.

more…

CrazyNeutrino said:

Scientists discover ‘closest Earth-sized exoplanet to date’, close enough to study atmosphere

An international team of scientists has found a new planet so close to Earth it is possible to study the atmosphere using optical telescopes.

The exoplanet (a planet that circles a star other than our Sun) circles the star GJ 1132 and has been given the identifier GJ 1132b.

more…

Any star with a GJ prefix has to be close to Earth, by definition. That’s what the GJ catalog is, stars close to Earth.

Come to think of it, there was an announcement in 2012 that Alpha Centauri B may have two planets. Is that claim still accepted?

WISE 0855−0714, even closer to Earth than Wolf 359 and discovered in 2014, is a free planet.

Epsilon Eridani has a planet, it’s the closest confirmed planet to orbit a star.

Groombridge 34 A, only a little further away, has a planet.

Epsilon Indi may have one planet.

Tau Ceti may have 5 planets.

All the above are within 12 light years, there are more between here and GJ 1132 at 39 light years.

• Any star with a GJ prefix has to be close to Earth, by definition. That’s what the GJ catalog is, stars close to Earth.

But why GJ?

mollwollfumble said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

Scientists discover ‘closest Earth-sized exoplanet to date’, close enough to study atmosphere

An international team of scientists has found a new planet so close to Earth it is possible to study the atmosphere using optical telescopes.

The exoplanet (a planet that circles a star other than our Sun) circles the star GJ 1132 and has been given the identifier GJ 1132b.

more…

Any star with a GJ prefix has to be close to Earth, by definition. That’s what the GJ catalog is, stars close to Earth.

Come to think of it, there was an announcement in 2012 that Alpha Centauri B may have two planets. Is that claim still accepted?

WISE 0855−0714, even closer to Earth than Wolf 359 and discovered in 2014, is a free planet.

Epsilon Eridani has a planet, it’s the closest confirmed planet to orbit a star.

Groombridge 34 A, only a little further away, has a planet.

Epsilon Indi may have one planet.

Tau Ceti may have 5 planets.

All the above are within 12 light years, there are more between here and GJ 1132 at 39 light years.

The smallest of Tau Ceti’s planets may have a diameter as small as 1.06 to 1.41 times the diameter of Earth. Isn’t that Earth-sized?

furious said:

• Any star with a GJ prefix has to be close to Earth, by definition. That’s what the GJ catalog is, stars close to Earth.

But why GJ?

Stands for Gliese–Jahreiss, the two German astronomers who created it, initially in 1969, with the star in question here added in the 1979 second edition.

• Stands for Gliese–Jahreiss, the two German astronomers who created it, initially in 1969, with the star in question here added in the 1979 second edition.

Makes sense…