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Filer’s Files # 43 -2012 Planet Found by Nearest Star
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European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system — the nearest to Earth. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern skies and is the nearest stellar system to our Solar System — only 4.3 light-years away. It is actually a triple star — a system consisting of two stars similar to the Sun orbiting close to each other, designated Alpha Centauri A and B, and a more distant and faint red component known as Proxima Centauri. Since the nineteenth century astronomers have speculated about life on planets orbiting stars beyond our Solar System, but searches had revealed nothing; until now.
“Our observations extended over more than four years using the HARPS instrument and have revealed a tiny, but real, signal from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B every 3.2 days,” says Xavier Dumusque (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland). “It’s an extraordinary discovery and it has pushed our technique to the limit!”
Alpha Centauri B is very similar to our Sun but slightly smaller and less bright. The newly discovered planet, with a mass of a little more than that of the Earth, is orbiting about six million kilometers away from the star, much closer than Mercury is to the Sun in our Solar System.
“This is the first planet with a mass similar to Earth ever found around a star like the Sun. Its orbit is very close to its star and it must be much too hot for life as we know it,” adds Stéphane Udry (Geneva Observatory “This result represents a major step towards the detection of a twin Earth in the immediate vicinity of the Sun.
In special reports, this week’s files cover: Ancient Pre Buddhist Bon ET Teachings, Planet Found in Nearest Star System to Earth, Life on Distant Moons, Enceladus Moon has Geysers of Water, Evolution vs. Panspermia, Carrier Tracked a UFO over Korea, and KGB’s ‘Blue Folder’ Reveals Shootings, Landings in USSR
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sightings were reported over: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
Sightings of UFOs were also reported in: Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, England and Wales in the United Kingdom.
Read the entire Filer’s Files # 43 -2012 Planet Found by Nearest Star here.
