Planet in star system nearest our Sun 'may have oceans'
http://phys.org/news/2016-10-planet-star-nearest-sun-oceans.html
A rocky planet discovered in the "habitable" zone of the star nearest our Sun may be covered with oceans,
researchers at France's CNRS research institute said Thursday.
A team including CNRS astrophysicists have calculated the size and surface properties of the planet dubbed
Proxima b, and concluded it may be an "ocean planet" similar to Earth.
Scientists announced Proxima b's discovery in August, and said it may be the first exoplanet—planet outside
our Solar System—to one day be visited by robots from Earth.
The planet orbits within a "temperate" zone from its host star Proxima Centauri, some four light years from us.
It is estimated to have a mass about 1.3 times that of Earth, and orbits about 7.5 million kilometres (4.6
million miles) from its star—about a tenth the distance of innermost planet Mercury from the Sun.