The triple stellar system Alpha Centauri (ESO 1-m Schmidt Telescope)

The location of the Alpha Centauri triple stellar system in the sky. The brighter stars (Alpha Centauri A and B) are strongly overexposed, with the outlying member, Proxima lying approx. 2.2° to the south-west (arrow). Smaller areas around the stars are shown in the inserts to the right. The photo has been reproduced from a blue-sensitive photographic plate obtained by the ESO 1-m Schmidt Telescope, a wide-angle telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile that is now decommissioned.