NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has shot the best image yet of Alpha Centauri A and B--brilliant strobes of orange, blue and white light against an inky black sky. The famous Alpha Centauri group, which is the closest star system to Earth, is located in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur) at a distance of 4.3 light-years, a mere stroll down the street in space distance.

Hubble has shot a stunning view of the bright Alpha Centauri A (on the left) and Alpha Centauri B (on the right), shining like huge cosmic headlamps in the eternal inky blackness of space.

This system is made up of the binary formed by the stars Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, plus the faint red dwarf Alpha Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri.

Compared to the sun, Alpha Centauri A is of the same stellar type, G2, and slightly bigger, while Alpha Centauri B, a K1-type star, is slightly smaller. They orbit a common center of gravity once every 80 years, with a minimum distance of about 11 times the distance between Earth and the sun.

Because these two stars are, together with their sibling Proxima Centauri, the closest to Earth, they are among the best studied by astronomers. And they are also among the prime targets in the hunt for habitable exoplanets.

It's a starry, starry night! See a spectacular view of Sagittarius--glittering red, white and blue stars--in an image shot by the Hubble Space Telescope.