Facts about Alpha Centauri
- 09
Named after its position in the southern constellation Centaurus, Alpha Centauri is among the brightest objects in the night sky, visible only from latitudes south of about 29° North.
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Within 26,700 years, Proxima Centauri will reach its closest approach to our Solar System at a distance of 3.11 light-years due to its proper motion through space.
- 07
Roughly 600,000 years ago, Proxima Centauri was closer to our Sun than Alpha Centauri A and B due to the proper motion of stars through the galaxy.
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Observations of Alpha Centauri A suggest it may host a terrestrial exoplanet in its habitable zone, detected through radial velocity measurements in 2020 by the ESPRESSO instrument.
- 05
Spectroscopic analysis reveals that Alpha Centauri A contains significantly more heavy elements than our Sun, with a metallicity approximately 135% of solar abundance.
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At 4.85 light-years away, Alpha Centauri B is significantly dimmer than its companion star, with only 90% of the Sun's luminosity and a surface temperature around 5,200 Kelvin.
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Alpha Centauri A and B orbit their common center of mass every 79.9 years, completing one full revolution since their last closest approach in 1875.
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Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our Sun at 4.24 light-years away, is a red dwarf with only 12% of the Sun's mass and hosts at least one potentially habitable exoplanet.
- 01
The closest star system to Earth, Alpha Centauri, lies approximately 4.37 light-years away and contains three stars orbiting in a complex gravitational arrangement.