An ESO artist's impression of the disproven planet Alpha Centauri Bb.
Alpha Centauri Bb (α Cen Bb) was a proposed exoplanet orbiting the K-type main-sequence star Alpha Centauri B, located 4.37 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Centaurus, but there has not been enough evidence to support the claim.[1][2]
The claimed discovery of the planet was announced in October 2012 by a team of European observers, and the finding received widespread media attention.[3][4][5][6] However, the announcement was met with scepticism by some astronomers, who thought that the European team was over-interpreting its data.[7]
In October 2015, astronomers from the University of Oxford published a scientific paper disproving the existence of the planet. They observed that an identical statistical analysis of randomly-generated synthetic data gave the same results as the actual astronomical data.[8] This led Xavier Dumusque, the lead author of the original paper, to concede "We are not 100 percent sure, but probably the planet is not there."[9]
^Dumusque, X.; Pepe, F.; Lovis, C.; Ségransan, D.; Sahlmann, J.; Benz, W.; Bouchy, F.; Mayor, M.; et al. (17 October 2012). "An Earth mass planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B" (PDF). Nature. 490 (7423): 207–11. Bibcode:2012Natur.491..207D. doi:10.1038/nature11572. PMID 23075844. S2CID 1110271. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
^Cite error: The named reference eso1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Wall, Mike (16 October 2012). "Discovery! Earth-Size Alien Planet at Alpha Centauri Is Closest Ever Seen". Space.Com web site. TechMediaNetwork. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
^Overbye, Dennis (17 October 2012). "New Planet in Neighborhood, Astronomically Speaking". New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
^Palmer, Jason (17 October 2012). "Exoplanet around Alpha Centauri is nearest-ever". BBC. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
^Kaufman, Marc (17 October 2012). "New Planet Is Closest Yet: Earth-Size Lava World a Space "Landmark"". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
^Hatzes, A. P. (17 October 2012). "Meet our closest neighbour". Nature. 491 (7423): 200–201. Bibcode:2012Natur.491..200H. doi:10.1038/nature11636. PMID 23075846. S2CID 37768785.
^Rajpaul, Vinesh (19 October 2015). "Ghost in the time series: no planet for Alpha Cen B". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 456: L6–L10. arXiv:1510.05598. Bibcode:2016MNRAS.456L...6R. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slv164.
^Powell, Devin (29 October 2015). "Poof! The Planet Closest To Our Solar System Just Vanished". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
AlphaCentauri (α Centauri, α Cen, or Alpha Cen) is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil...
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Proxima Centauri d (also called Proxima d) is an exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun and part of the Alpha Centauri...
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either two planets or no planets at all around Aldebaran. AlphaCentauriBb Proxima Centauri b Hot Jupiter Farr, W. (2018). "Aldebaran b's temperate past...
second brightest star in the triple star system AlphaCentauri is accordingly called AlphaCentauriBb. If an exoplanet orbits both of the stars in a binary...
light elements". AlphaCentauriBb: On 16 October 2012, the discovery was announced of an Earth-mass planet in orbit around AlphaCentauri B. The discovery...
0855−0714 (possibly a rogue planet). The closest system is AlphaCentauri, with Proxima Centauri as the closest star in that system, at 4.2465 light-years...
Space Telescope search for the transit of the Earth-mass exoplanet AlphaCentauriBb". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 450 (2): 2043–2051...
Earth-mass Planets in the Presence of Activity Noise: The Case of AlphaCentauriBb". The Astrophysical Journal. 770 (2): 133. arXiv:1305.4960. Bibcode:2013ApJ...
Southern Observatory (ESO) discovery of the Earth sized planet close to AlphaCentauriBb, but played an even closer role in the study that disproved the planet's...
table. Acrux Capella p Eridani Polaris Procyon Sirius AlphaCentauri system (AB) and Proxima Centauri (thus α Cen C): Actually a three-star system Alpha1...
Major, forms 9.13 billion years (4.67 Gya): Proxima Centauri forms completing the AlphaCentauri trinary system 9.2 billion years (4.6–4.57 Gya): Primal...
Mini Album (Akkernet 2000) Live in Viersen & Leverkusen 2001 - DVD (AlphaCentauri Entertainment 2003) C. U. (Coast to Coast, 2003) I'm In The Mood - Live...
probe would be able to study the interstellar medium as well as reach AlphaCentauri. The project would require more antimatter than we are capable of producing...
solar or lunar themes to the more specifically astronomical: "AlphaCentauri", "Omega Centauri", "Chromosphere" etc. or inspired by the wisdom, culture and...
night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql or α Aql. Altair is an A-type main-sequence...
Ba and ε Indi Bb, in a wide orbit around it. The brown dwarfs were discovered in 2003. ε Indi Ba is an early T dwarf (T1) and ε Indi Bb a late T dwarf...
standard is not always followed: for example AlphaCentauri A, B and C are not labelled AlphaCentauri Aa, Ab and B. Following an extension of the above...
such as the ANDES spectrograph for the Extremely Large Telescope. Proxima Centauri b Ross 128 GJ 1061 Teegarden's Star "MAST: Barbara A. Mikulski Archive...
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