Alpha Centauri Ab
The discovery image of Candidate 1, taken by the NEAR instrument at ESO's Very Large Telescope in 2021. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | K. Wagner, et al. |
| Discovery date | 2021 |
| Direct imaging | |
| Designations | |
| Alpha Centauri Ab, Rigil Kentaurus b, C1 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 1.1 AU | |
| ~360 d | |
| Inclination | ~70° |
| Star | Alpha Centauri A |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 3.3-7 R🜨 | |
| Mass | ~20-50 M🜨 |
Candidate 1 (also known as C1 or Alpha Centauri Ab) is an exoplanet candidate directly imaged around Alpha Centauri A in February 2021. If confirmed as an exoplanet, it would orbit at approximately 1.1 AU away from Alpha Centauri A with a period of about a year and would have a mass between that of Neptune and one-half that of Saturn and would therefore likely be a giant planet. The planet candidate is yet to be confirmed as an exoplanetary signal with additional observations needed to confirm its true nature.