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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A Planet around Alpha Centauri B


This artist’s impression shows the planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to Earth. Alpha Centauri B is the most brilliant object in the sky and the other dazzling object is Alpha Centauri A. Our own Sun is visible to the upper right. The tiny signal of the planet was found with the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger

Note: For more information, see Planet Found in Nearest Star System to Earth.

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