AA Institute ) wrote:
: "New Earth" is just my favourite way of referring to a hypothetical
: planet orbiting around either one of the two principal stars in the
: Alpha Centauri system, within their respective *habitable* zones.
: So... assuming such a planet does exist, I'd like to know if we could
: hope to see it *directly* through a telescope using special techniques
: like masking out the glare of the star itself.

I think that if there was a planet around Alpha Centauri or Proxima
Centauri that we would have heard about it long before this. Having said
that, I does make for an interesting research and development metaphor. A
large jupiter sized planet would or could be like winning the jackpot in a
lottery where there could be multiple earthlike moons.

Tom

[Mod. note: top-posting fixed. please don't top-post -- mjh]