Nearby star hosts closest alien planet in the 'habitable zone' [View all]

[Matthew28]

Nearby star hosts closest alien planet in the 'habitable zone'
December 16, 2015

UNSW Australia astronomers have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet found outside our solar system so far, orbiting a star just 14 light years away.


The planet, more than four times the mass of the Earth, is one of three that the team detected around a red dwarf star called Wolf 1061.

"It is a particularly exciting find because all three planets are of low enough mass to be potentially rocky and have a solid surface, and the middle planet, Wolf 1061c, sits within the 'Goldilocks' zone where it might be possible for liquid water—and maybe even life—to exist," says lead study author UNSW's Dr Duncan Wright.

"It is fascinating to look out at the vastness of space and think a star so very close to us—a near neighbour—could host a habitable planet.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-nearby-star-hosts-closest-alien.html#jCp

Add wolf 1061c to the growing list of earth/super earth habitual planets. This and G667cc are currently the two closes confirmed such planets.

If we really needed to get off this planet fast...Well, this would be a option.