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ID: ESP_049028_2065 date: 10 January 2017 altitude: 287 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Larger image

Alpha Centauri, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Desert Worlds, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars

Icy Flow In A Crater On Mars

by Keith CowingApril 6, 2026April 6, 2026

The material on the floor of this crater appears to have flowed like ice, and contains pits that might result from sublimation of subsurface ice. The surface is entirely dust-covered today. There probably was ice here sometime in the past, but could it persist at some depth?

The strength of indirect detection signals from an Earth-like exoplanet as a function of stellar effective temperature. Bands encompassing main sequence spectral classes A through M color coded by temperature are indicated at the top. Here, Earth-like is defined as a 1-Earth mass object in an orbit receiving irradiance equivalent to 1 AU from our Sun (the solar constant). Radial Velocity signals (solid blue line) are seen to exhibit a rapid rise in signal strength (given on the right-hand abscissa) for cooler, M dwarf systems where they become detectable with present submeter per second RV precision. On the other hand, astrometric deflection signals (colored diamond symbols) rise with host star temperature, and decline linearly with distance from values of up to several microarcseconds for the nearest stars. For convenience the plot also indicates the size of the temperate orbit modeled (in AU, left abscissa) and its corresponding orbital period (in years, also left abscissa). -- astro-ph.IM

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cubesats and smallsats, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware

The TOLIMAN Mission: A Low-cost Space Telescope For High Precision Narrow-angle Astrometry

by Keith CowingMarch 18, 2026March 18, 2026

Age of α Centauri A and B estimated in various works. The colors of the points indicate the method: blue, classic method without seismic data; green, seismic analysis; cyan, gyrochronology; orange, chemical analysis; and red, results of this study. -- astro-ph.SR

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Stellar Cartography

A Mapping Method Of Age Estimation For Binary Stars: Application To The Alpha Centauri System A And B

by Keith CowingFebruary 11, 2026February 11, 2026

Lake Untersee Base Camp as of 14 January 2026 -- Dale T. Andersen

Alpha Centauri, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Dale Andersen's Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Tricorders & Sensors

Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 14 January 2026: Setting Up Base Camp At Lake Untersee

by Keith CowingJanuary 14, 2026January 14, 2026

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Stellar Cartography

Seeking The Worlds Of Avatar: Prospects for Detecting Moons Orbiting a Giant Planet in Alpha Centauri A’s Habitable Zone

by Keith CowingSeptember 22, 2025September 22, 2025

This image shows the Alpha Centauri star system from several different ground- and space-based observatories: the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS), the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Alpha Centauri A is the third brightest star in the night sky, and the closest Sun-like star to Earth. -- ESA

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Webb Finds New Evidence For A Large Planet Orbiting in The Habitable Zone Of Alpha Centauri A

by Keith CowingAugust 7, 2025August 7, 2025

JWST’s view of the α Cen AB system. Shown above is a background-subtracted Stage 2b F1550C image of the α Cen AB system from August 2024. The image is oriented North up and East left. The white stars denote the approximate positions of α Cen B, saturated near the top of the image, and α Cen A in the lower part of the image hidden behind the F1550C mask. The right colorbar (logarithmically scaled) is associated with this image. At the edge of the detector, to the West of α Cen A, is a known background source KS5 (Kervella et al. 2016). To the East of α Cen A is known background source KS2 (Kervella et al. 2016), shown as an inset, as it is only detected after performing PSF subtraction (no colorbar shown for the inset, scaled linearly between −5 and 50 MJy/sr). An ≈2. ′′75 radius region around α Cen A is shaded and mapped to three PSF-subtracted images, one for each observation epoch. Candidate S1 is seen only in August 2024. The bottom colorbar (linearly scaled) is associated with the three PSF-subtracted images. For reference, 1 MJy/sr ≈ 4.6 × 10−6 Jy/AiryCore, where AiryCore is defined as the area of a circular aperture of diameter 1 FWHM (≈ 0. ′′5). -- astro-ph.EP

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of α Cen A. I. Observations, Orbital and Physical Properties, and Exozodi Upper Limits

by Keith CowingAugust 7, 2025August 7, 2025

Joint PCA-KLIP subtraction of distinct subsets of the α Cen AB science integrations from the August 2024 observations. -- astro-ph.SR

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of α Cen A. II. Binary II. Binary Star Modeling, Planet and Exozodi Search, and Sensitivity Analysis

by Keith CowingAugust 7, 2025September 18, 2025

F1550C image of α Cen AB. α Cen B is saturated near the top and α Cen A is behind the F1550C mask near the center. Two known background stars are labeled (KS2 inset, detected after PSF subtraction; and KS5). The (right) colorbar (for the Stage 2b image) is logarithmically scaled in MJy/sr. A ≈ 35 radius region around α Cen A is expanded. (a) The original α Cen AB PSF-subtracted image. Dashed lines indicate the FQPM boundaries. A likely artifact is boxed. (b) An identical reduction after injecting STPSF planet models (circled). (c) An identical reduction after injecting an exozodiacal disk model (boxed). The (bottom) colorbar (for the reduced images and KS2) is linearly scaled in MJy/sr. -- Research Notes of the AAS

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy

A Preliminary Search For Planets and Exozodiacal Emission Around Alpha Centauri A with JWST/MIRI

by Keith CowingMay 26, 2025May 26, 2025

This map shows the geographic distribution of the mobile towers of planet Earth, represented by red dots. The map contains more than 30 million individual data points, most of which overlap at this resolution. -- astro-ph.EP

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Barnard's Star, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Intelligence & Language, SETI & Technosignatures

Simulation Of The Earth’s Radio Leakage From Mobile Towers As Seen From Selected Nearby Stellar Systems

by Keith CowingMay 26, 2025May 26, 2025