Proxima Centauri b is a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the red dwarf that is the nearest known star to the Sun, about 4.2 light-years away. Its discovery was announced in August 2016 by a team led by Guillem Anglada-Escude, using radial velocity measurements by the European Southern Observatory's HARPS spectrograph, which detected the faint wobble of the star caused by the planet's pull. The planet has a minimum mass slightly above that of Earth and orbits in just over eleven days, at a distance from its star that falls within the so-called habitable zone. Whether it has an atmosphere or liquid water is unknown, because Proxima Centauri is a flare star that may bathe the planet in harmful radiation.
Before and after
- 22 July 20162016 Munich shooting
- 26 July 20162016 Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray church attack
- 22 August 2016Creation of Android Nougat
- 24 August 2016August 2016 Central Italy earthquake
- 24 August 2016Discovery of Proxima Centauri b
- September 2016Release of TikTok
- 8 September 2016Launch of OSIRIS-REx
- 15 September 2016Launch of Tiangong-2
- 18 September 20162016 Uri attack
More in Universe & space
- 1 May 1949Discovery of Nereid
- 20 August 1977Launch of Voyager 2
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Nix
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 10 September 2005Discovery of Dysnomia
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.