The closest star system to the Earth is the famous Alpha Centauri group. Located in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur), at a distance of 4.3 light-years, this system is made up of the binary formed by the stars Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, plus the faint red dwarf Alpha Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has given us this stunning view of the bright Alpha Centauri A (on the left) and Alpha Centauri B (on the right), flashing like huge cosmic headlamps in the dark. The image was captured by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). WFPC2 was Hubble's most used instrument for the first 13 years of the space telescope's life, being replaced in 2009 by WFC3 during Servicing Mission 4. This portrait of Alpha Centauri was produced by observations carried out at optical and near-infrared wavelengths.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Tuesday September 06 2016, @04:37PM
The point of light in the sky under intense magnification looks like - a point of light in the sky!
Astronomers have a lot of patience and a lot of imagination. And people really have no concept of just how big space REALLY is.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday September 06 2016, @04:53PM
It's not a point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_with_resolved_images [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Tuesday September 06 2016, @05:24PM
Thus the "patience" part. Like the patience in explaining that 2 or 4 pixels is a fantastic improvement over one.
(Score: 2) by Jiro on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:21PM
Alpha Centauri isn't in that Wikipedia list, and the original article doesn't claim that Alpha Centauri was resolved to any number of actual pixels across. Even the phrase "best image" is only from the headline, and news headlines usually aren't written by the same people as the matching news article.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:28PM
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(Score: 5, Funny) by maxwell demon on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:43PM
Ah, now I finally understand where dark energy is coming from:
Someone put a notice on the universe: "This universe is incomplete; you can help by expanding it."
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 07 2016, @08:51AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Informative) by Jiro on Tuesday September 06 2016, @09:11PM
All the stars in the list are either
1) Viewed with the CHARA Array, which is a scientific breakthrough for such images, or
2) Very large in angular diameter as visible from the Earth
Alpha Centauri falls in neither of those categories.
If you think that that picture has resolved Alpha Centauri as more than a blurred point of light, I'd have to see a source. The original article doesn't claim this and only uses the vague term "best image", (and only in the headline).
Also, a simple back of the envelope calculation shows that Alpha Centauri was not resolved. The size of Betelgeuse is 50 mas according to the list. The Wikipedia article for Betelgeuse shows a picture that is at most 10 pixels across (and even then, don't assume that each square in the image is actually a pixel). This means that a star would have to be at least 10 mas to be 2 pixels across using Hubble. Wikipedia's article for "angular diameter" lists it as being 7 mas.
(Score: 3, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:28PM
Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @04:52PM
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has given us
Only that it hasn't, because according to the very Hubble administration they have no idea where their telescope is [youtube.com].
Best case (in favor of NASA) scenario, those are from SOPHIA and they just say that it is from Hubble, to keep the idea relevant.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:31PM
That video is probably the stupidest thing in existence, and you are the stupidest person in existence.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:44PM
Hey now, this is no way to talk. Better behave, son!
And don't worry about what happened to your ball. When you turn 11, I will replace it with a plane!
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday September 06 2016, @08:59PM
Well at least I don't think the HST is fake.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 5, Funny) by Kromagv0 on Tuesday September 06 2016, @05:38PM
Who let JJ Abrams use Hubble?
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:07PM
The image was captured by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). WFPC2 was Hubble's most used instrument for the first 13 years of the space telescope's life, being replaced in 2009 by WFC3 during Servicing Mission 4.
So in summary, someone's been screwing around with mspaint to create that fake for more than seven years? I mean, we got fake moon landings in mere hours to days, I'm surprised this kaleidoscope interpretation took 7+ years.
I'm just saying, in an innumerate society, a dude who can do basic arithmetic is like a wizard-bard. I didn't even need to count out the years on my Cthulhularian tentacles to calculate this number. I suppose I could have counted out 2016 arm or back hairs and then removed 2009 of them to calculate "7".
I'm only half way kidding around in that I don't think its fake but I'm sure there's an interesting story behind our news story queue being 7 years long or whatever.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:38PM
I'm just saying, in an innumerate society, a dude who can do basic arithmetic is like a wizard-bard.
No kidding. I was in a store and the girl behind the counter asked if I was good at maths. I said, uh, yeah, with some slight trepidation. But then she asked her killer question: if you have 42p (pence) and then you, like, have ten of those, how much is that?
She actually did look at me like I was a wizard when I answered in under five seconds (I had to spend a few making sure I wasn't having a psychotic episode).
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:49PM
No kidding. I was in a store and the girl behind the counter asked
So did you get any?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:45PM
Any what? Any of the 42 pence? Or any of the ten items?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:53PM
Oh, and the picture, fake or not, does kind of look like a painting. And one that shouldn't have taken 6 years to do... but what do I know, I can't paint.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:36PM
Painting genius Van Gogh painted a lot of his million-dollar masterpieces in one day (at least most of the painting, not necessarily the finishes).
NASA genius geeks use billions of dollars to take years to image a couple bright dots, and the lens effect is the most obvious part.
Both images will be one someone's desktop today.
Humans are amazing.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:20PM
There have always been innumerate people.
You really think that most Victorian schoolchildren were capable of basic arithmetic, let alone actual maths?
I think it's more a sign that stuff is so automated nowadays that it doesn't really matter, and nobody wants to pay the staff who just need to swipe barcodes "Boop, boop, boop" all day long a proper wage.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:27PM
Maybe she was asking you to do or sell drugs.
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(Score: 5, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:44PM
...that's a still from a 1974 episode of Top of the Pops featuring a performance from ABBA.
Proof [youtube.com]!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 07 2016, @09:01AM
Won't someone, apart from the paedos, please think of the children!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday September 07 2016, @11:59AM
Gah, didn't even spot that piece of excrement. Sorry about that.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk