A new planet was discovered orbiting the closest star to the sun, Alpha Centauri. Roughly the same mass as Earth, it is the lightest planet ever found orbiting another star. With surface temperatures of 1,200 degrees, it could not support life; however, it does spark curiosity in further exploration of Alpha Centauri.
Astronomer Geoffrey Marcy exclaimed, “This is close enough you can almost spit there.”
“The discovery that our nearest neighbor has rocky planets is the story of the decade. I’d bet $100 that there are other planets that are there as well,” said astronomer Debra Fisher.