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Alpha Centauri system has an Earth-size planet

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sisko:
European astronomers announced their discovery of a planet with about the mass of the Earth which orbits Alpha Centauri B: http://www.nature.com/news/the-exoplanet-next-door-1.11605

The detection, to be published today (Oct. 17) in the journal Nature, was so difficult that some astronomers aren't yet convinced that Alpha Centauri Bb (that's the name of the planet) exists. The team's statistical analyses show a "false alarm probability" of just one in 1,000 — meaning there's a 99.9 percent chance that the planet exists.

Alpha Centauri Bb's is extremely close to its parent star (closer than Marcury to the Sun) which probably gives the planet a surface temperature about 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit (1,227 degrees Celsius), making it unable to support life as we know it.. Nothing about mindworms and progs, yet.  :D

thanks to Lumpen for the heads-up in the FB players group.

Green1:
OMG! In the interview with The Planetary Society, there was mentioned briefly a competing european team scouring the AC system. They must have beaten the Yale/ Planetary Society backed team to it. This IS breaking news and a game changer.

But sheesh.. all these hot Jupiters and close orbit planets. There HAS to be, as we say in forum talk, MOAR!

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