Scientists have found a potentially habitable or habitable planet. It is located in Alpha Centauri – the closest to the solar system, consisting of three stars.
There is Alpha Centauri A and B, similar to the Sun, and Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that is even closer to us, at 4.24 light years. Two planets revolve around the latter, one of which (Proxima b) is similar to the Earth and is in the habitable zone, that is, in principle, there can be liquid water there, – writes Technology Review.
It is noted that a group of astronomers working with a very large telescope in Chile detected a bright infrared signal from the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri A. The signal was received by the NEAR project, which is supported by the European Southern Observatory and the Breakthrough Watch organization created by billionaire Yuri Milner. The project participants were able to view the infrared signatures of planetary objects in the reflected light of the star, after analyzing 100 hours of data.
Judging by the signal, it is the size of Neptune, meaning it is a warm gas giant 5 to 7 times the size of Earth. If there is life, then, most likely, these are microbes in the clouds, scientists say.
At the same time, scientists admit that the signal can be caused by a number of other reasons, for example, red-hot cosmic dust, some object hidden in the background, or wandering photons.
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