Alpha Centauri: Two bright princesses and a red dwarf
Dan WildI remember as a teenager, blinking though binoculars, excited that I could just make out Alpha Centauri as a double star. Then I borrowed a low-end refractor telescope and could more easily make out the binary nature of the pair. It was the Jesuit, Father Jean Richaud (1633-1693), who first determined the binary using his …
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Teegarden’s Star: A nearby red dwarf with two rocky planets
Dan WildWhile Teegarden’s Star is rarely talked about at dinner parties, it’s only a matter of time. Why? Two words. Habitable planets. At only 0.09 solar masses, Teegarden is a very small star. With less than 1/10th the mass of the sun, Teegarden is lucky to be a star at all – any less mass and …
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