Anticipation is building in Massachusetts for a special mission Tuesday, Dec. 24, and it has nothing to do with a jolly man in a sleigh ... it is actually orbiting the sun about two dozen times.

astronomers found a planet orbiting the nearest star to Earth in this system, called Proxima Centauri. Graphic representation of the relative distances between the nearest stars and the Sun.

Derived from the Greek words peri (around) and helios (sun), the word reflects its meaning. In contrast, the term "aphelion" refers to the point where the orbiting body is farthest from the sun.