Artist's impression of the Sun (left) and Oort cloud (ring of small blue objects) as seen from the Alpha Centauri triple star system. The Oort cloud i
Artist's impression of the Sun (left) and Oort cloud (ring of small blue objects) as seen from the Alpha Centauri triple star system. The Oort cloud is a spherical halo of comets which is thought to lie at the edge of the solar system, about light years from the Sun. The gravitational effect of nearby stars, such as those of the Alpha Centauri system, pulls comets out of the cloud and into orbits which eventually take them close to the Sun. The three Alpha Centauri stars are: Alpha Centauri A, far right; B, bottom right; & Proxima Centauri, red star above centre). Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf flare star which is seen here undergoing a flare.
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Photo credit: © JULIAN BAUM/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: alpha, astronomy, centauri, cloud, comet, cometary, comets, cosmology, dwarf, flare, oort, origin, proxima, red, science, star, system
