Exoplanet Globe - 6-inch

Explore Proxima Centauri b, a terrestrial planet circling the nearest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, with this exclusive 6-inch desktop globe. Weighing in at nearly 1.3 Earth masses and likely a bit larger than our home planet, Proxima b is categorized as a super-Earth planet.  At only about 5 perfect the distance of Earth from the Sun, Proxima b lies within its star's habitable zone and could have lakes or oceans of water. Proxima b was discovered using the radial velocity method, which finds planets by closely monitoring the host star for small movements.  As a planet orbits its star, its gravity subtly tugs on the star.  A campaign undertaken in the first half of 2016 focused on Proxima Centauri, looking with numerous telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile, for those small shifts.  That year, researchers announced they'd measured Proxima Centauri moving toward and away from Earth with a speed of about 3mph in a cycle that repeats