https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hunt-is-on-for-alpha-centauris-planets/ > On June 13 NASA’s official tally of exoplanets—planets beyond our solar system—shot past 4,000. The master list includes alien worlds around around both tiny neutron stars and swollen, dying suns, planets in the crowded center of our galaxy the Milky Way, and planets floating alone in the depths of interstellar space. One location is conspicuously missing, however: Alpha Centauri, the star system next door to our own. Because of a confounding set of circumstances, this intriguing target has remained a cipher—at least, until now. > Technology is improving, and the stars are aligning, literally, to betray Alpha Centauri’s secrets. “The level of interest in finding [potentially habitable worlds] is definitely increasing,” says astrophysicist Ruslan Belikov of NASA’s Ames Research Center.