Alpha Centauri
(α Centauri, Rigil Kentaurus)
(nearest star system)
Alpha Centauri (Rigil Kentaurus) is the nearest
star system to the Earth beyond the Sun.
The entire system has three stars:
the two larger stars form a binary star:
Alpha Centauri A, a G2V-type star with absolute magnitude +4.38
and Alpha Centauri B a K1V-type star with absolute magnitude +5.71.
Without a telescope, they have the appearance of a single star,
orbiting in about 80 years, their eccentric orbit
varying the distance between them from 11 to 37 AU.
The third star is Alpha Centauri C or Proxima Centauri,
a red dwarf of spectral type M5.5Ve and an absolute magnitude of +15.6.
It is currently the closest of the three to Earth,
orbiting the binary system about once every half million years,
currently about a fifth of a light-year and
about 2 degrees' angular distance from the pair.
It has a confirmed extra-solar planet of interest, Proxima b,
that appears to be in its habitable zone.
Characteristics (Alpha Centauri A):
(star,nearby star,binary star,bright star,exoplanets)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Starlog/strclos.html#c2
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=alpha+centauri
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=proxima+centauri
https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/AlphaCen.html
https://theplanets.org/stars/alpha-centauri-facts/
https://esahubble.org/images/potw1635a/
https://chview.nova.org/solcom/stars/alp-cent3.htm
Redshift | Parsecs /Distance | Lightyears /Lookback Years | | |
~0 | 1.33pc | 4.34ly | | Alpha Centauri |
|
Coordinates: | α Centauri J143936.49400-605002.3737 |
|
Referenced by pages:
absolute magnitude (M)
apparent magnitude (m)
astronomical quantities
astronomical unit (AU)
Barnard's Star
Bayer designation
G-type star (G)
galactic bulge
globular cluster (GC)
gravitational wave strain (h)
Luhman 16
M-type star (M)
multiple star system
Oort Cloud
Proxima b
quantum system
red dwarf
Sirius
star system
Starshot
stellar designation
stellar nucleus
wide binaries (WB)
Wolf 359
Index