Alpha Centauri Ab

Common card · No. 335242

Alpha Centauri Ab (also known as Rigil Kentaurus b, or originally as Candidate 1) is a candidate exoplanet that was first directly imaged around Alpha Centauri A in 2019 and reported in February 2021. If confirmed as an exoplanet, it would be the nearest, coldest, shortest-period and oldest directly imaged exoplanet around a solar-type star, and Alpha Centauri would be the brightest planet-hosting star (see list of brightest stars). The planet is expected to be a gas giant based on physical properties. Additional observations are needed to confirm its existence.

Read on Wikipedia · Image NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Sanghi (Caltech), C. Beichman (JPL), D. Mawet (Caltech), J. DePasquale (STScI), CC BY 4.0