# An Earth-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B

@article{Dumusque2012AnEP,
title={An Earth-mass planet orbiting $\alpha$ Centauri B},
author={Xavier Dumusque and Francesco A. Pepe and Christophe Lovis and Damien S{\'e}gransan and Johannes Sahlmann and W. Benz and François Bouchy and Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz and Nuno C. Santos and St{\'e}phane Udry},
journal={Nature},
year={2012},
volume={491},
pages={207-211}
}
• Published 8 November 2012
• Physics, Geology
• Nature
Exoplanets down to the size of Earth have been found, but not in the habitable zone—that is, at a distance from the parent star at which water, if present, would be liquid. There are planets in the habitable zone of stars cooler than our Sun, but for reasons such as tidal locking and strong stellar activity, they are unlikely to harbour water–carbon life as we know it. The detection of a habitable Earth-mass planet orbiting a star similar to our Sun is extremely difficult, because such a signal…
314 Citations

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