A group of dozens of astronomers have found evidence of a small, rocky, and potentially watery world lurking around the closest star to the sun.
The planet, called Proxima b, is slightly larger than Earth. It also orbits within a Goldilocks-like habitable zone around its star, Proxima Centauri.
"It's a game-changer," Abel Méndez, an astrobiologist at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, told Business Insider. "This is by far the most Earth-like planet we've found in terms of size. And it's much closer than anything else right now."
But what is most exciting to Méndez and other researchers is Proxima b's home star — a red dwarf, which is not like the sun at all.
"Red dwarfs are the most numerous stars in the galaxy," said Méndez, who was not involved in the study of Proxima b, published August 24 in the journal Nature.
Here's how studying Proxima b could make — or break — the chances of finding life elsewhere in the universe.
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The Milky Way is home to some 100 billion to 400 billion stars, including the sun.
Source: NASA
And the vast majority of those stars — perhaps 75% or even 80% — are dim, red dwarf stars less than half the mass of the sun.
Sources: Interview with Abel Méndez; Smithsonian Insider
That's why scientists are so excited by Proxima b — an Earth-size planet that orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri.
Source: Business Insider
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