First Exoplanet Discovered In Habitable Zone
Year: 2016
Due to the Kepler Space Telescope, our discoveries of exoplanets have taken off massively. Eventually, other major telescopes such as Hubble and now the James Webb Telescopes discovered more and offered even more detailed information about many. Yet this all really began with the discovery of Proxima b in 2016. Only 4.2 lightyears away from us, it is our closest cosmic neighbor that can possibly host human life as WE know it. This planet resides in the habitable zone of its star, Proxima Centauri. Sadly, we’d later learn much more about Proxima b. In that, it is blasted with high-radiation superflares from the star, which reduces its potential habitability for humans. Regardless, the 2016 discovery is one of the most surprising scientific findings of our time.