For decades, astronomers have been training telescopes all over the
sky, looking for alien worlds. In October, they reported finding an
Earth-sized planet near a small, next-door star.
The discovery naturally
raises the question: When can we visit?
“A rocky planet around … our nearest neighbor — this is incredible,” planet-hunting astronomer Debra Fischer told Science News.
The Yale University scientist did not work on the new study. “If you
were going to send a spacecraft anywhere, or a probe anywhere, that’s
where you’d go first.”
The planet’s star, Alpha Centauri B, is a
little smaller and cooler than the sun. It and a larger star called
Alpha Centauri A sit about 4.4 light-years away, roughly the distance of
150,000 round trips from Earth to the sun. That may seem far away, but
the Alpha Centauri system is our nearest stellar neighbor.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.