05-26-2020, 04:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-26-2020, 04:15 PM by The Astronomer.)
New, low-noise RV measurements of Proxima, home to two known planets, has been obtained from the ESPRESSO spectrograph, confirming the presence of Proxima b as well as detecting a second signal with a period of 5.15 days and semi-amplitude of 40 cm/s. If the signal is caused by a planet companion, the signal would correspond to a planet with a minimum mass of 0.29 Earths and a semi-major axis of 0.029 AU.
(LINK)
Proxima's third planet candidate
Semi-major axis: 0.029 AU (calculated by myself, using 0.1221 solar masses for star mass)
Orbital period: 5.15 days
Minimum mass: 0.29 Earth masses
Mass (assuming the same inclination as Proxima c's): 0.62 Earth masses
The paper also revised Proxima b's mass, yielding a minimum mass of 1.173 Earth masses. Including inclination (again, assuming the same inclination as c), Proxima b's likely true mass is roughly 2.5 Earth masses.
(LINK)
Proxima's third planet candidate
Semi-major axis: 0.029 AU (calculated by myself, using 0.1221 solar masses for star mass)
Orbital period: 5.15 days
Minimum mass: 0.29 Earth masses
Mass (assuming the same inclination as Proxima c's): 0.62 Earth masses
The paper also revised Proxima b's mass, yielding a minimum mass of 1.173 Earth masses. Including inclination (again, assuming the same inclination as c), Proxima b's likely true mass is roughly 2.5 Earth masses.