Astronomers may have found a new Habitable Zone Planet right next door

The observation was made in May and June of 2019 when astronomers were trying out a new technique to detect Earth like habitable zone planets , they chose Alpha Centauri because of its proximity.
The new planet hasn't been confirmed yet and there could be another explanation for the result but as it stands the planet could be around Neptune size and it's orbiting at around the same distance the Earth orbits our Sun , Alpha Centauri A lives 4.4 light-years away and is a star similar to our Sun so if it's a rocky world there's a good chance for water at its surface.... and is perhaps where those pesky little dudes with the big heads live.

The astronomers know that the planet candidate could turn out to be something as uneventful as a defect or artifact in the data, but they are excited at the possibility that they may have found one in their test to see if it could even be done. They also hope to soon be able to image smaller planets, closer to Earth’s size.

Team member Kevin Wagner of the University of Arizona posted the video below, which provides a summary of the NEAR experiment’s ambitions and the methods it used to find the candidate planet.

At least 50 planets around other stars have been directly imaged, just none in this “Goldilocks” habitable zone close (but not too close) to its home star. The same telescope used in this study also made the first-ever image of an exoplanet in 2004, when a speck was seen around a brown dwarf. Last year the telescope spotted the first ever multiple-planet system around a star.

Up until now, direct imaging has worked best for planets that are very far from their parent stars. It’s also been easier to see planets that don’t pass in front of or behind the star from our point of view. The new mid-infrared imaging method may change that and open up new avenues to finding planets that could support water and life.
earthsky.org...

No doubt this will be added to the list of jobs for the James Webb Space Telescope when it ,hopefully , launches at the end of October.

a reply to: gortex

4.4 light years away...

We REALLY need to get our space propulsion sorted out.

originally posted by: noonebutme
a reply to: gortex

4.4 light years away...

We REALLY need to get our space propulsion sorted out.

We haven't been to the moon in fifty years and still haven't sent a man to Mars so I don't think light years are in our future.

Imagine hitting a speck of dust while traveling at half the speed of light.... Poof..😳

One of greatest disappointments I have in mankind is that we spend such a huge amount of money on war and subverting other nations and even our own people. We could be doing something much more constructive with the funds and manhours expended. Not only could we have extremely advanced space telescopes that far surpass our current abilities but we could have probes far out into deep space to learn more about our universe. Not to mention far more research on propulsion technology that does a more efficient job than chemical rocketry which in the grand scheme of things hasn't changed a great deal since the 1960s.

Also not long ago people were critcising the Starlink satellite constellations for making ground based astronomy harder to perform. Unfortunately the days of ground based telescopes has pretty much passed. Sure there's a lot more science they can do but there's a lot more they can do more effectively out of the atmosphere. Unfortunately we're somewhat hobbled until we can get the next generations of different space telescopes in orbit.

originally posted by: gortex
The observation was made in in May and June of 2019 when astronomers were trying out a new technique to detect Earth like habitable zone planets , the new planet hasn't been confirmed yet and there could be another explanation for the result but as it stands the planet could be around Neptune size and it's orbiting at around the same distance the Earth orbits our Sun , Alpha Centauri A lives 4.4 light-years away and is a star similar to our Sun so if it's a rocky world there's a good chance for water at its surface.... and is perhaps where those pesky little dudes with the big heads live.

The astronomers know that the planet candidate could turn out to be something as uneventful as a defect or artifact in the data, but they are excited at the possibility that they may have found one in their test to see if it could even be done. They also hope to soon be able to image smaller planets, closer to Earth’s size.

Team member Kevin Wagner of the University of Arizona posted the video below, which provides a summary of the NEAR experiment’s ambitions and the methods it used to find the candidate planet.

At least 50 planets around other stars have been directly imaged, just none in this “Goldilocks” habitable zone close (but not too close) to its home star. The same telescope used in this study also made the first-ever image of an exoplanet in 2004, when a speck was seen around a brown dwarf. Last year the telescope spotted the first ever multiple-planet system around a star.

Up until now, direct imaging has worked best for planets that are very far from their parent stars. It’s also been easier to see planets that don’t pass in front of or behind the star from our point of view. The new mid-infrared imaging method may change that and open up new avenues to finding planets that could support water and life.
earthsky.org...

No doubt this will be added to the list of jobs for the James Webb Space Telescope when it ,hopefully , launches at the end of October.

Being almost 4 times the size of earth, if its rocky and earth like, I'd imagine the gravity is immense. Anything living there would either be pretty small, or pretty buff.

There must be a very embarrassing reason why all habitable planets are so far away.

originally posted by: Trueman
There must be a very embarrassing reason why all habitable planets are so far away.

Cause humanity stinks?

originally posted by: Dalamax

originally posted by: Trueman
There must be a very embarrassing reason why all habitable planets are so far away.

Cause humanity stinks?

That too.

a reply to: Trueman

The size of the universe for instance.

It's a big place you see.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Trueman

The size of the universe for instance.

It's a big place you see.

That's our lousy excuse.

Imagine if that turns out to be habitable..its literally right on our doorstep in space terms.
The way technology is moving 4.4light years may soon be doable,at least for a probe of some kind and maybe later we could send people.
If its the size of Neptune would it have stronger gravity I wonder?
Coz Neptune is pretty huge:
en.wikipedia.org...:Neptune,_Earth_size_comparison_2b.jpg

A planet that size could have continents a few times bigger than all the land on Earth..
I really hope they find out more info about it.

a reply to: Trueman

The sheer size of the observable universe and the fact that there are around 1 billion trillion stars never mind planets around about half of those stars is a pretty good excuse Trueman.

We are only just beginning to understand what constitutes life on our own world never mind the rest.

It could be everywhere in the universe or few and far between depending of different factors and variables.

Chances are it exists in more places than just our Earth, again just down to the sheer scale of our universe.

Someday.

Don’t think it will be in my lifetime

originally posted by: Silcone Synapse
Imagine if that turns out to be habitable..its literally right on our doorstep in space terms.
The way technology is moving 4.4light years may soon be doable,at least for a probe of some kind and maybe later we could send people.
If its the size of Neptune would it have stronger gravity I wonder?
Coz Neptune is pretty huge:
en.wikipedia.org...:Neptune,_Earth_size_comparison_2b.jpg

A planet that size could have continents a few times bigger than all the land on Earth..
I really hope they find out more info about it.

Size and density are different quantities.
Gravity is still only a theory, there may be more to it then meets the eye.

No doubt this will be added to the list of jobs for the James Webb Space Telescope when it ,hopefully , launches at the end of October.

We both know that on the last day of September they will announce another 2-year delay.

originally posted by: projectvxn

We both know that on the last day of September they will announce another 2-year delay.

That's the spirit, positive thinking!

Although you are probably right.....

Dollars to donuts the rock itself (if it's not gaseous) is not habitable (edit: for human physiology), BUT I'd be willing to bet the deed and the firstborn that there's at least ONE moon that is, and has similar gravity to Earth.

Just a hunch, I could be very much wrong and it might be made of habitable mozzarella cheese caves for all I know.

a reply to: Dalamax

Mass is directly proportional to the gravitational force.

So increase in mass means increase in gravitational force.

On a planet that is four times the mass of the Earth, and has four times the radius, gravitational force will become four times greater.

a reply to: gortex

No doubt this will be added to the list of jobs for the James Webb Space Telescope when it ,hopefully , launches at the end of October.

Yeah, pretty sure I was getting all exited about how the James Webb telescope was about to be launched and do all these amazing things before even the Soprano's finale.

Its now well over a decade later and I'm still waiting... IDK, think I've just become jaded with the whole space exploration thing.

I want to be all interested and excited by it... but too do so just feels like running in place, well it dangles in your face.

originally posted by: gortex
Astronomers may have found a new Habitable Zone Planet right next door..

I'll get my coat.