Scientists announced Wednesday the discovery of an Earth-like planet, the closest possible home for life outside the solar system.
Queen Mary University of London's Guillem Anglada-Escudé, the project leader and co-authaor of the study published in the journal Nature, said the discovery raises the possibility of life on the rocky planet orbiting the nearest star to our sun-Proxima Centauri, the Guardian reported.
Proxima b, at least 1.3 times the Earth's mass, orbits its host star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water on its surface, according to the university's official website.
"Proxima b would probably be the first exoplanet visited by a probe made by humans," co-author Julien Morin, an astrophysicist at France's University of Montpellier, told AFP.
The planet orbiting Proxima Centauri is likely to be the focus of future interstellar voyages, Nature said on Wednesday.
"Chinese scientists have paid close attention to the study since European scientists decided to reveal the findings half a year ago," said Guo Jingjun, the director of Tsinghua University's Geographic Information System, Remote Sensing, and Global Positioning System research center.
However, Guo told the Global Times that the findings are based on some hypothesis that requires further testing, and Chinese astronomers are committed to making such contributions.
Last year, the U.S. space agency NASA discovered an exoplanet that it described as Earth's "closest-twin."
