Why did the potential planet in the Alpha Centauri system stop being detected?
Answer
The planet's orbit likely carried it into a position too close to the star
The observational challenges in high-contrast imaging include the fact that the candidate planet's position relative to its host star changes over time. Researchers determined that the failure to re-detect the potential Saturn-mass planet was likely due to the planet's orbital path carrying it into a region too close to the star. In this position, the faint light of the planet was either completely obscured by the coronagraphic mask hardware or was lost within the remaining stellar light that leaks around the mask's edges.
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