Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Astronomy

Meet our closest neighbour

Nature volume 491, pages 200–201 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

The discovery of a possible extrasolar planet that has the same mass as Earth and orbits α Centauri B, a member of the closest star system to the Sun, is both a technical achievement and cause for excitement. See Article p.207

One big goal of astronomers studying exoplanets — planets that orbit stars other than the Sun — is the detection of an Earth-mass planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The habitable zone is usually defined as the range of distances from the parent star at which water, if present, would be liquid. On page 207 of this issue, Dumusque et al.1 report the discovery of a candidate exoplanet that brings this goal one step closerFootnote 1.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Notes

  1. *This article and the paper under discussion1 were published online on 17 October 2012.

References

  1. Dumusque, X. et al. Nature 491, 207–211 (2012).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Snellen, I. A. G., de Mooij, E. J. W. & Albrecht, S. Nature 459, 543–545 (2009).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Knutson, H. A. et al. Astrophys. J. 754, 22 (2012).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Latham, D. W. et al. Astrophys. J. 732, L24 (2011).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mayor, M. & Queloz, D. Nature 378, 355–359 (1995).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Campbell, B., Walker, G. A. H. & Yang, S. Astrophys. J. 331, 902–921 (1988).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Artie P. Hatzes is at the Thuringian State Observatory, Tautenburg 07778, Germany.,

    Artie P. Hatzes

Authors
  1. Artie P. Hatzes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Artie P. Hatzes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hatzes, A. Meet our closest neighbour. Nature 491, 200–201 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11636

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11636

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing