How important is the discovery of the Second Earth?

ESO officially confirmed that there is an extremely "2nd Earth" close to our Earth.

According to ESO's announcement, the experts found extremely clear evidence of a planet rotating around Proxima Centauri. Planet named: Proxima b.

Finding Proxima b, Earth-like planet orbiting a star closest to the Sun, could be an important milestone in astronomers' search for space.

Proxima b revolves around its star in a period of 11 days, and with a "standard" distance to have a very balanced temperature, enough to maintain liquid water on the surface.

This planet has a mass only slightly larger than Earth, and is the most exoplanet (planetary solar system) close to us. This may even be the only planet capable of sustaining life that is so close to Earth.

Picture 1 of How important is the discovery of the Second Earth?
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system, only 4.2 light-years away.

According to ESO, Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system, only 4.2 light years away. The body is located in the constellation Sagittarius, and as a dwarf, it emits quite weak light.

Moreover Proxima Centauri is located near a larger star Alpha Centauri AB , so it is almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

In the first half of 2016, experts at ESO were actively studying Proxima Centauri based on telescopes located in La Silla (Chile). This star is part of the Pale Red Dot campaign, initiated by astronomer Guillem Anglada-Escudé of Queen Mary University (England).

The objective of the campaign is to determine the strange movement of light around the body, which is caused by gravity from a planet orbiting it.

Picture 2 of How important is the discovery of the Second Earth?
Red dwarfs like Proxima Centauri, which have a rather active nature.

Red dwarfs like Proxima Centauri, which have a rather active nature, can replicate the presence of a planet, though in fact they are not. Therefore, in order not to . be fooled, the team watched the star's brightness change very carefully.

Data from the Pale Red Dot campaign combined with data provided by ESO observatories have finally yielded an amazing result.

They found that there is a planet with a mass of at least 1.3 times the Earth, orbit about 7 million km from Saturn - just 5% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

Picture 3 of How important is the discovery of the Second Earth?
The graphic compares with the planets' orbits around Proxima Centauri (Proxima b) with other regions in the solar system.

The distance from Proxima b to Venus is even smaller than the distance from Mercury to the Sun. But because Proxima Centauri had a much dimmer brightness, Proxima b was still in the Goldilock region - the life-sustaining distance.

However, the planet's surface can be strongly influenced by ultraviolet rays , far more powerful than what the Earth is experiencing today.

The more descriptive texts on this planet will be published in Nature on August 25, 2016.