Alpha Centauri Planet Candidate Found By JWST

Reference: Found here

A team of astronomers has found evidence of a candidate gas giant planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, a Sun-like star in the closest stellar system to our own. Initial observations hinting at the planet's existence were made in August 2024 using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The Alpha Centauri system is located just 4 light-years from Earth.

The findings, detailed in two papers accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters , could represent a major milestone.

As Charles Beichman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted in a JWST news release , ⁘With this system being so close to us, any exoplanets found would offer our best opportunity to collect data on planetary systems other than our own.⁘

The Alpha Centauri system is a fascinating trio of stars. It consists of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, two Sun-like stars that form a binary pair, and the more distant and faint red dwarf star, Proxima Centauri.

While the smaller star in the system, Proxima Centauri, is known to host three planets , its larger companions, Alpha Centauri A and B, have proven to be far more elusive targets for planet hunters.

The primary obstacle is the intense, overlapping glare of the two main stars. Even when the light from one star is masked, the brilliance of its binary partner is enough to completely obscure the faint light of a potential planet.