Alpha Centauri Rigil Kentaurus Rigil Kent alpha Cen B Toliman Bungula Proxima Centauri 14 39 36.204 -60 50 08.23 1.295 15000 Proxima Centauri α Centauri C GL 551 HIP 70890 Proxima 2900 0.141 0.120 M5.5V Proxima Centauri b α Centauri C b GL 551 b HIP 70890 b Proxima b 11.18427 0.003691 0.04857 110 234 Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. This rocky world is a little more massive than the Earth and is the closest exoplanet to us — and it may also be the closest possible abode for life outside the Solar System. RV Confirmed planets 2016 16/08/22 Planets in binary systems, S-type eso1629a This artist's impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image to the upper-right of Proxima itself. Proxima b is a little more massive than the Earth and orbits in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, where the temperature is suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser. Proxima Centauri c α Centauri C c GL 551 c HIP 70890 c Proxima c 1929 133 0.022024 Proxima c is a Super-Earth about 7 times as heavy as Earth, orbiting at roughly 1.5 astronomical units (220,000,000 km) every 1,900 days (5.2 yr). Due to its large distance from Proxima Centauri, the exoplanet is unlikely to be habitable, with a low equilibrium temperature of around 39 K. The planet was first reported by Italian astrophysicist Mario Damasso and his colleagues in April 2019. Damasso's team had noticed minor movements of Proxima Centauri in the radial velocity data from the ESO's HARPS instrument, indicating a possible additional planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. In 2020, the planet's existence was confirmed by precovery images from Hubble c. 1995, making it the first and closest planet ever to be directly imaged. Due to the differences in how its light shines throughout its orbit, the planet is speculated to have a ring system. RV 2019 20/08/29 Confirmed planets Planets in binary systems, S-type Proxima Centauri d α Centauri C d GL 551 d HIP 70890 d Proxima d 5.122 0.000818 0.04 0.02885 This planet has been found using a large set of observations taken with the ESPRESSO spectrograph at the VLT. This candidate planet is the third detected in the system and the lightest yet discovered orbiting this star. At just a quarter of Earth’s mass, the planet is also one of the lightest exoplanets ever found. The analysis of subsets of the ESPRESSO data, the activity indicators, and chromatic RVs suggest that this signal is not caused by stellar variability but instead by a planetary companion. eso2202a This artist’s impression shows a close-up view of Proxima d, a planet candidate recently found orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. The planet is believed to be rocky and to have a mass about a quarter that of Earth. Two other planets known to orbit Proxima Centauri are visible in the image too: Proxima b, a planet with about the same mass as Earth that orbits the star every 11 days and is within the habitable zone, and candidate Proxima c, which is on a longer five-year orbit around the star. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada RV 2022 22/02/10 Confirmed planets Planets in binary systems, S-type Alpha Centauri alf Cen α Cen α Centauri Rigil Kentaurus Rigil Kent Toliman Bungula CD-60 5293 CPD-60 5483 WDS J14396-6050 RHD 1 23.518 0.5179 79.20 29187.1 231.65 204.85 2406130.3 Alpha Centauri A alf Cen A α Cen A α Centauri A Alpha-1 Centauri alf01 Cen α1 Cen α1 Centauri Rigil Kentaurus A Rigil Kent A Toliman A Bungula A Gliese 559 A GJ 559 A HR 5459 HD 128620 HIP 71683 TYC 9007-5849-1 CD-60 5293 A CPD-60 5483 A WDS J14396-6050 A RHD 1 A 0.96 0.72 0.01 -1.15 -1.38 -1.49 G2 V 1.100 1.227 5790 0.20 Alpha Centauri B alf Cen B α Cen B α Centauri B Alpha-2 Centauri alf02 Cen α2 Cen α2 Centauri Rigil Kentaurus B Rigil Kent B Toliman B Bungula B Gliese 559 B GJ 559 B HR 5460 HD 128621 HIP 71681 TYC 9007-5848-1 WDS J14396-6050 B RHD 1 B 2.89 2.21 1.33 -0.01 -0.49 -0.60 K1 V 0.907 0.865 5260 0.23 Alpha Centauri B b GJ 559 B b HR 5460 b HD 128621 b HIP 71681 b Albertus Alauda alf Cen B b 0.00356 3.2357 0.04 0.0 RV Retracted planet candidate 2012 20/08/29 Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern sky (in fact, it is a triple system). The planet candidate Alpha Centauri Bb was announced as the nearest exoplanet to Earth and also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a Sun-like star. The candidate was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The planet's existence was challenged by Hatzes (2013) and was shown to be likely an artifact caused by the data sampling by Rajpaul et al. (2015). AlphaCentauriB This artist's impression shows the planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to Earth. Alpha Centauri B is the most brilliant object in the sky and the other dazzling object is Alpha Centauri A. Our own Sun is visible to the upper right. The tiny signal of the planet was found with the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO/L. Calcada Planets in binary systems, S-type Alpha Centauri B c GJ 559 B c HR 5460 c HD 128621 c HIP 71681 c alf Cen B c 0.083840 2456482.195 transit 2015 A possible transit event was detected in Hubble Space Telescope photometry of Alpha Centauri B while searching for transits of the planet candidate Alpha Centauri Bb. This may be due to the presence of a roughly Earth-sized planet in an orbit less than 20 days. 15/11/17 Controversial Planets in binary systems, S-type 1 Centaurus