This 3-panel image captures the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s observational search for a planet around the nearest Sun-like star, Alpha Centauri A.
The initial image shows the bright glare of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, then the middle panel shows the system with a coronagraphic mask placed over Alpha Centauri A to block its bright glare. However, the way the light bends around the edges of the coronagraph creates ripples of light in the surrounding space. The telescope’s optics (its mirrors and support structures) cause some light to interfere with itself, producing circular and spoke-like patterns.
These complex light patterns, along with light from the nearby Alpha Centauri B, make it incredibly difficult to spot faint planets. In the panel at the right, astronomers have subtracted the known patterns (using reference images and algorithms) to clean up the image and reveal faint sources like the candidate planet.
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[Image description: Three panels, each showing a different view of the binary star system Alpha Centauri from the Webb. The left panel shows a rectangular image tilted at a 45 degree angle outlined in white on a grey background. The image is a blown-out bright source at the center, with 8, double columned reddish white diffraction spikes. The center of this bright source is outlined with a vertical box, tilted slightly to the left, with two diagonal lines leading to the second panel. This shows a view of both Alpha Centauri A at the bottom and Alpha Centauri B at the top, both with orange star icons over each star. The star icons are surrounded by mottled red and white blotches. The bottom star is outlined with a white square with two diagonal lines leading to the third panel. Within a large white circle there is a blurry red-toned field with an orange star icon and central black circle outlined in white marking the location of Alpha Cen A. A bright orange blob at 9 o’clock in relation to the star is labeled “S1” and circled.]