Year in review: A planet lurks around the star next door
Closest known exoplanet is ‘just’ 4.24 light-years away orbiting Proxima Centauri
HEY NEIGHBOR Proxima b, depicted with its star in this illustration, is at least 1.3 times as massive as Earth — but that is just a minimum estimate.
L. Calçada, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/ESO
Worlds in the Alpha Centauri system — the trio of stars closest to our sun — have been a staple of science fiction for decades.