| Title |
A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature, August 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1038/nature19106 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Guillem Anglada-Escudé, Pedro J. Amado, John Barnes, Zaira M. Berdiñas, R. Paul Butler, Gavin A. L. Coleman, Ignacio de la Cueva, Stefan Dreizler, Michael Endl, Benjamin Giesers, Sandra V. Jeffers, James S. Jenkins, Hugh R. A. Jones, Marcin Kiraga, Martin Kürster, Marίa J. López-González, Christopher J. Marvin, Nicolás Morales, Julien Morin, Richard P. Nelson, José L. Ortiz, Aviv Ofir, Sijme-Jan Paardekooper, Ansgar Reiners, Eloy Rodríguez, Cristina Rodrίguez-López, Luis F. Sarmiento, John P. Strachan, Yiannis Tsapras, Mikko Tuomi, Mathias Zechmeister |
| Abstract |
At a distance of 1.295 parsecs, the red dwarf Proxima Centauri (α Centauri C, GL 551, HIP 70890 or simply Proxima) is the Sun's closest stellar neighbour and one of the best-studied low-mass stars. It has an effective temperature of only around 3,050 kelvin, a luminosity of 0.15 per cent of that of the Sun, a measured radius of 14 per cent of the radius of the Sun and a mass of about 12 per cent of the mass of the Sun. Although Proxima is considered a moderately active star, its rotation period is about 83 days (ref. 3) and its quiescent activity levels and X-ray luminosity are comparable to those of the Sun. Here we report observations that reveal the presence of a small planet with a minimum mass of about 1.3 Earth masses orbiting Proxima with a period of approximately 11.2 days at a semi-major-axis distance of around 0.05 astronomical units. Its equilibrium temperature is within the range where water could be liquid on its surface. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 942 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 175 | 19% |
| Spain | 60 | 6% |
| United Kingdom | 58 | 6% |
| France | 28 | 3% |
| Japan | 27 | 3% |
| Canada | 16 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 12 | 1% |
| Australia | 9 | <1% |
| Germany | 8 | <1% |
| Other | 110 | 12% |
| Unknown | 439 | 47% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 727 | 77% |
| Scientists | 174 | 18% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 23 | 2% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 18 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 474 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 8 | 2% |
| Germany | 2 | <1% |
| Canada | 2 | <1% |
| United Kingdom | 2 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Brazil | 1 | <1% |
| Austria | 1 | <1% |
| France | 1 | <1% |
| Singapore | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 3 | <1% |
| Unknown | 452 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 113 | 24% |
| Student > Bachelor | 72 | 15% |
| Researcher | 69 | 15% |
| Student > Master | 47 | 10% |
| Professor | 21 | 4% |
| Other | 79 | 17% |
| Unknown | 73 | 15% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Physics and Astronomy | 226 | 48% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 47 | 10% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 26 | 5% |
| Chemistry | 20 | 4% |
| Engineering | 16 | 3% |
| Other | 63 | 13% |
| Unknown | 76 | 16% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2642. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 April 2024.
All research outputs
#2,824
of 25,770,491 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#297
of 98,696 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#23
of 353,962 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#4
of 994 outputs
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