What is Epsilon Eridani?
Epsilon Eridani is a Sun-like star, located roughly 10.5 light years from the Earth. Epsilon Eridani is slightly smaller than the Sun, with around one quarter of the Sun’s luminosity. A large disk of gas and dust still surrounds the star, and Epsilon Eridani is believed to be fairly young, at around eight hundred million years old. One planet has already been confirmed orbiting the star, at a distance of around three AU; at ten light years away, it is the closest confirmed extrasolar planet. Clumps of gas and dust in the star’s disk suggest a second planet, much farther out. Many scientists believe that Earth-like, terrestrial planets may be orbiting Epsilon Eridani, and the star is one of the prime candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life. In 1998, a team of astronomers detected a planet orbiting the star using Epsilon Eridani’s Doppler shift, which indicates how fast the star is moving towards or away from the Earth. Doppler shift analysis is the most common planet-searchin
