Did you hear the news?  Astronomers have discovered over 3000 planets now around other stars in our galaxy, but they've just announced that they've discovered a planet around the closest star to our own Solar System, Proxima Centauri. 

Even though it is the "closest" star, it's still around 25 trillion miles from us, or about 5000 times further away than Neptune, the furthest planet of our Solar System, is to the Earth.  Light, which travels at 186,000 miles per second, takes over four years to span the distance. 

The new planet, dubbed Proxima Centauri B, is estimated to be at least 1.3 times Earth's mass, and orbits its star every 11.2 Earth days.  But because the star's luminosity is so low, the planet is predicted to be in the zone where temperatures would allow for liquid water on its surface. 

Water has not been discovered on the surface at this time, and there is no evidence at this time of life on the planet.  But it does go to show that even when you put your gaze out across the Universe, you never know what you'll discover just next door. 

For more information about Blue Star Planetarium, visit www.bluestarplanetarium.com

Marc