\nAt four light years away, these are the closest stars to our solar system. Of the 276 extrasolar planets we have found so far none of them have been that local. Now two of the co-authors are about to start a campaign at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile to observe Alpha Centauri to test methods to look for these planets.<\/p>\n
Alpha Centauri is a good target because, like the Big Dipper in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is almost always up in the Southern Hemisphere night sky for observing. Being so bright and nearby would also help researchers detect the tiny wobble a small terrestrial planet would impart.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New computer models show that Alpha Centauri B may very well have an Earth-sized planet within the habitable orbital zone At four light years away, these are the closest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38668,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/08\/b5-rewatch-1-03-born-to-the-purple.html","url_meta":{"origin":12606,"position":0},"title":"B5 Rewatch: 1×03 "Born to the Purple"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 8-Sep-13 1:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another \"meet the characters\" ep, this one focused on Londo, in which we learn more (at a bit of a distance) about Centauri politics and power struggles, and the role of blackmail and black files.It's a nice enough character piece in the A-plot, with Sinclair and G'kar flanking Londo in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41614,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/06\/b5-rewatch-s2e12-acts-of-sacrifice.html","url_meta":{"origin":12606,"position":1},"title":"B5 Rewatch: 2×12 "Acts of Sacrifice"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 6-Apr-14 6:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another strong episode with a great mix of drama and humor, AoS carries the Narn\/Centauri conflict further along both on the galactic stage, on B5, and with their respective ambassadors.The A-Plot focuses on just that. 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