Perhaps best known by the grand name of Alpha Centauri and being one of the four stars in the Southern Cross - the Rigil Kent system - not to be confused with Rigel, another brilliant star, in Orion - was first thought to be a binary system ( two stars circling one another ) by early astronomers of Old Earth - but then determined in the early years of the 20th century to actually be three stars - named Rigil A, B, and C.

Although orbiting one another - the three stars are never closer to one another than 11 AU (Astronomical Units) - a distance exceeding eleven times the distance from Old Earth to its' Sun.   At these distances the brighter stars - Rigil A and B - have individual planets revolving around their respective sun - but due to the great distances are in no danger of collision or interuption of orbital activity from the other sun or its' planetary system.

The Rigel triad system is the closest planetary system to the Solar System of Old Earth - being 4.3 light years in distance and among the brightest stars visible from Earths' southern hemisphere.

This scene pictures the closer Rigil A sun being eclipsed by one of the planets in that system. Appearing as a bright star at the lower right is Rigil B.   Rigil C - being a much darker star - is not visible from either Rigil A or B without optical enhancement equipment.

The proximity to Rigil A causes so much radiation (exceeding the amounts Mercury in our Solar System receives) to strike this planet and would most likely preclude any carbon-based life-forms being able to survive here. Perhaps a planet further from the sun in this sytem will yield evidence of life.

Another small moon orbiting the eclipsing planet can be seen to the left of Rigil A. The angle of view in this scene is 32-degrees.