A team of astronomers may have made a landmark discovery with the detection of a remarkably Earth-like planet orbiting the closest star to our solar system.
Dubbed 'Proxima b,' the rocky planet is a mere 4.2 light years from Earth, making it the closest exoplanet ever found.
While this, alone, is a monumental find, the discovery is doubly-tantalizing since 'Proxima b' resides in a range around the star which suggests that the planet could have both water and maybe even life.
At a distance of only 4.2 light years away, the prospect of future Earthlings traveling to the newly-discovered world may only be a generation or two away if technological advancements continue.
Tuesday's announcement will no doubt inspire an exhaustive amount of new research aimed at both further studying 'Proxima b' as well as attempting to detect similar worlds in the binary star system known as Alpha and Proxima Centauri.
And, as UFO enthusiasts may recall, Alpha Centauri and its sister star have long been theorized as the potential home of extraterrestrials that have been allegedly visiting the Earth.
While today's announcement, of course, does not mention such a scenario, it does open the door for the possibility that we may be getting closer to finding ET's home.
Or we may have just found the place where humans will reside next once we're done ruining our current planet.
Source: Space.com