Astronomers spot possible alien world in Alpha Centauri’s habitable zone

As discoveries about outer space continue to stack, astronomers have just spotted a planet in a potentially habitable orbit around Alpha Centauri A, the nearest sunlike star to our solar system, with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Indeed, astronomers have found an exoplanet around Alpha Centauri A, which could be a gas giant, sort of like a warmer version of our own Saturn, and the best part is – its orbit is within the star’s habitable zone, where liquid water can persist on a planet’s surface, Scientific American reported on August 7.

However, the scientists believe that the planet itself is likely lifeless, its potential moons probably having better chances of having oceans and perhaps even life, according to two preprint papers accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Still, in the words of Elisabeth Matthews, an exoplanet-focused astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany:

“If it’s real, it’s amazing. (…) It’s a really exciting candidate – quite an intriguing candidate. (…) The authors work hard to make a case for why this, frankly, small and faint blob of light is believable, but I think there are still some open questions that need to be answered to really be 100 percent sure.”

Other exciting space discoveries

Meanwhile, astronomers at the University of Birmingham have also made an exciting and unusual discovery of an exoplanet orbiting at a 90-degree angle around two odd stars in a setup reminiscent of the twin-sun system of Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine.

Elsewhere, on humanity’s never-ending quest to find life in outer space, scientists believe there could be some in our own solar system, as close as Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, although the life forms potentially existing there would probably be minuscule.

On top of that, another interesting astronomical finding is a newborn alien solar system, which has, for the first time ever, provided astronomers with a front-row seat on planet formation, as they also witnessed baby planets forming around the infant star.