Alpha Centauri AB (IMAGE)
Caption
The Alpha Centauri group is the closest star - or solar - system outside of our own at a distance of 4.3 lightyears, and it can be found in the night sky in the constellation Centaurus. The stars Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B comprise a binary system, in which the two stars orbit one another, and close by is an additional faint red dwarf Alpha Centauri C, also called Proxima Centauri. Some astronomers have hoped to someday find an exoplanet capable of harboring advanced life in the system, but a new study lowers those expectations while raising them for the rest of the universe.
Credit
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
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