NEW YORK — Private investors Mission Centaur and the BoldlyGo Institute have partnered to launch Project Blue, a plan to build a compact space telescope that has aims of capturing an image of a potential Earth-like exoplanet orbiting the closest star system to us in the Milky Way galaxy. <br /> <br />Project Blue’s half-meter-wide telescope is expected to be sent into orbit in roughly three years. It’s high-contrast imaging is designed to take pictures of our closest neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is 4.37 light years away from our solar system. <br /> <br />Scientists estimate there is an 85% probability that Alpha Centauri’s sun-like stars have an Earth-like planet somewhere in their habitable zones. If a planet orbiting within the habitable zones is detected with an atmosphere that could allow liquid water to exist on its surface, it may appear as a blue dot in the telescope.
