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Best Image Of Alpha Centauri A and B

posted by janrinok on Tuesday September 06 2016, @04:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the say-cheese dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

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.

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:53PM

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:53PM (#398238) Journal
    Lately it seems whenever I get an item from clearance the checkout clerks have to ask me to things like 'what's half of $1.68?' It's kind of funny actually. I'm tempted to give an obviously wrong answer just for laughs, but I figure these people have enough problems without me making more for them.

    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?
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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:36PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:36PM (#398255)

    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.