Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri, triple star system, the faintest component of which, Proxima Centauri, is the closest star to the Sun, about 4.2 light-years distant. The two brighter components, called A and B, about 0.2 light-year farther from the Sun, revolve around each other with a period of about 80 years, while Proxima circles them with a period of 550,000 years. The brightest component star, Alpha Centauri A, resembles the Sun in spectral type, diameter, and absolute magnitude. Its apparent visual magnitude is 0.0. The second brightest component, Alpha Centauri B, of visual magnitude 1.4, is a redder star. The third component, Proxima, of 11th magnitude, is a red dwarf star.

(List of Brightest Stars as Seen from Earth)

As seen from Earth, the system is the third brightest star (after Sirius and Canopus); the red dwarf Proxima is invisible to the unaided eye. Alpha Centauri lies in the southern constellation Centaurus and can be seen only from south of about 40° north latitude. In 2016 the International Astronomical Union designated Alpha Centauri A as Rigil Kentaurus, which comes from Rijl al-Qanṭūris, Arabic for “foot of the Centaur.”

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Stars: Explosions in Space

Proxima has three planets, Proxima b, c, and d, the closest extrasolar planets, the first of which, Proxima Centauri b, was discovered in 2016. Its mass is at least 1.3 times that of Earth and thus is deemed a rocky planet like Earth. Its orbital period of 11.2 days puts it within Proxima’s habitable zone, at the distance from the star where water can exist in liquid form on a planet’s surface. Where there is liquid water, there may be the conditions to support life. Proxima c has a mass about 5.8 times of Earth and has an orbital period of 5.2 years. Proxima d orbits with a 5.1-day orbital period between Proxima b and the star. It is not within Proxima’s habitable zone and has a mass at least 0.26 times that of Earth, making it one of the lightest known extrasolar planets.