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A view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System, is seen in an undated artist's impression released by the European Southern Observatory August 24, 2016. Scientists Wednesday announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the star nearest our Sun, opening up the glittering prospect of a habitable world that may one day be explored by robots. Named Proxima b, the planet is in a “temperate” zone compatible with the presence of liquid water – a key ingredient for life. Proxima b is a mere four light years from the solar system, meaning that it is essentially in our backyard on the scale of our galaxy, the Milky Way. It has a mass around 1.3 times that of Earth, and orbits about 7 million km (4.35 million miles) from its star. (Photo by M. Kornmesser/Reuters/ESO)
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