Artist’s impression of Proxima b, a rocky-like planet orbiting around Proxima Centauri (ProxCen), a low-mass red dwarf star located in the constellation Centaurus. At a distance of about 4 light years from the Sun, ProxCen and its orbiting planets are the closest planetary system to the Sun. Proxima b orbits in the so-called habitable zone of ProxCen (a range of orbits around the star within which the planet can have liquid water on its surface) at a distance of about 0.05 AU from the star (the Earth is at a distance of 1 AU from the Sun) with an orbital period of approximately 11 Earth days. This makes Proxima b a potentially habitable alien planet. ProxCen is part of the Alpha Centauri triple star system consisting of α Centauri A, α Centauri B and, of course, ProxCen (aka α Centauri C).