Alpha Centauri

Perhaps some were so disappointed by the false alarm in 2012, when another group claimed to have found an exoplanet in the Alpha Centauri system, no one wanted to get their hopes up.

Astronomers now plan intensive telescopic studies of the Alpha Centauri system.

Sirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri system, Arcturus, Vega, Capella system, Rigel, Procyon, Achernar, Betelgeuse

For the Breakthrough Iniative's Starshot program, which has an audacious aim of sending tiny robotic probes to not only visit, but also to return from a trip to the Alpha Centauri system within a generation, knowing the location of any potential exoplanets in the system is crucial.

Last April, billionaire Yuri Milner announced a $100 million initiative to test the feasibility of sending tiny spacecraft on a 20-year journey to the Alpha Centauri system at 20% the speed of light (S&T: Aug.

The Alpha Centauri system is no stranger to claims of exoplanets.

Other stories made the list because they filled our sleepy heads with fascinating questions: Will we ever visit the planet that has been discovered in the Alpha Centauri system, just a few light-years away?

Finding a rocky planet in the Alpha Centauri system settled a decades-long debate about whether the system's three stars hosted planets.

The Alpha Centauri system would be a little brighter, magnitude 9.