#proxima centauri d

Since the planets were discovered recently and their stars belong to the constellation Centaurus, I propose naming them after centaurs from 20th-21st century media.

Proxima d - Ronan, calm and philosophical, likes to watch the stars, a stargazer.

Proxima b - Bane, hot-tempered and suspicious to strangers, also watches the stars.

Proxima c - Cloudbirth, careful and wise healer.

Aplha Centauri Ab - Glenstorm, respectable and serious prophet and warrior.

A candidate short-period sub-Earth orbiting Proxima Centauri

Astronomers have discovered a third planet, about twice the size of Mars, orbiting Earth's nearest neighbor.

Alpha Centauri is approximately 4.37 light years from our Sun. It is a trinary star: a system with three stars orbiting each other. The red dwarf Proxima Centauri is the closest of the three stars, approximately 4.2 light years away from us.

Astronomers have previously discovered two other planets orbiting Proxima Centauri: Proxima b, discovered in 2016, and Proxima c, discovered in 2020. The new planet, Proxima d, was first observed in 2020, but it was confirmed-and-formally-published just last week.

Proxima d has only one-fourth the mass of Earth, or around twice the mass of Mars. It is also much closer to Proxima Centauri than Earth is to Sol, completing an orbit in just over five Earth days. Proxima c is about seven times as massive as Earth. It is much further away from its star, taking around 5¼ Earth years to complete a single orbit.