The Alpha Centauri star system

This image shows the closest stellar system to the Sun, the bright double star Alpha Centauri AB and its distant and faint companion Proxima Centauri. In late 2016 ESO signed an agreement with the Breakthrough Initiatives to adapt the VLT instrumentation to conduct a search for planets in the Alpha Centauri system. Such planets could be the targets for an eventual launch of miniature space probes by the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative.

Credit:

ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin/Mahdi Zamani

About the Image

Id:eso1702b
Type:Photographic
Release date:9 January 2017, 17:00
Related releases:eso1702
Size:19050 x 13936 px

About the Object

Type:Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary System
Category:Exoplanets
Stars

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