Proxima Centauri, the nearest known star to the Sun, is classified as what type of star?
"that between Saturn and the Sun (11.2 AU). Alpha Centauri C, or Proxima Centauri, is a small and faint red dwarf (Class M). Though not visible to the naked eye, Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at a distance of , being slightly closer than Alpha Centauri AB at a distance of . Currently, the distance between Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri AB is about , equivalent to about 430 times the radius of Neptune's orbit. Proxima Centauri b is an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri; it was discovered in 2016. ""α Centauri"""
"Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri (α Centauri, abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen) is the closest star system to the Solar System at from the Sun. It is a triple star system, consisting of three stars: Alpha Centauri A (officially Rigil Kentaurus), Alpha Centauri B (officially Toliman), and Alpha Centauri C (officially Proxima Centauri). Alpha Centauri A and B are Sun-like stars (Class G and K), and together they form the binary star Alpha Centauri AB. To the naked eye, the two main components appear as a single star with an apparent magnitude of −0.27, forming the brightest point of light"
"and direction to those of Alpha Centauri AB, suggesting that Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri system and slightly closer to Earth than Alpha Centauri AB. Lying away, Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to the Sun. All current derived distances for the three stars are from the parallaxes obtained from the Hipparcos star catalogue (HIP) and the Hubble Space Telescope. All components of Alpha Centauri display significant proper motion against the background sky. Over centuries, this causes their apparent positions to slowly change. Proper motion was unknown to ancient astronomers. Most assumed that the stars are immortal"
"Dutch astronomer Joan Voûte measured the star's trigonometric parallax at and determined that Proxima Centauri was approximately the same distance from the Sun as Alpha Centauri. It was also found to be the lowest-luminosity star known at the time. An equally accurate parallax determination of Proxima Centauri was made by American astronomer Harold L. Alden in 1928, who confirmed Innes's view that it is closer, with a parallax of . In 1951, American astronomer Harlow Shapley announced that Proxima Centauri is a flare star. Examination of past photographic records showed that the star displayed a measurable increase in magnitude on"
"rotates once roughly every 83 days, and has a luminosity about . Like the two larger stars in the triple star system, Proxima Centauri is rich in metals compared with the Sun, something not normally found in low-mass stars like Proxima. Its metallicity ([Fe/H]) is 0.21, or 1.62 times the amount found in the Sun's atmosphere. Even though Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun, it is not visible to the unaided eye from Earth because of its low luminosity (average apparent magnitude of 11.13). Proxima Centauri is a flare star. This means that it undergoes occasional dramatic"
"object from Earth, is 141.5 AU away. The closest known star, Proxima Centauri, is approximately away, or over 9,000 times farther away than Neptune. Because of this, distances between stars are usually expressed in light-years, defined as the distance that a light photon travels in a year. Light in a vacuum travels around per second, so this is some or in a year. Proxima Centauri is 4.243 light-years away. Another way of understanding the vastness of interstellar distances is by scaling: One of the closest stars to the Sun, Alpha Centauri A (a Sun-like star), can be pictured by scaling"
"degrees, or four times the angular diameter of the full Moon. Proxima also has a relatively large proper motion—moving 3.85 arcseconds per year across the sky. It has a radial velocity toward the Sun of 22.2 km/s. Among the known stars, Proxima Centauri has been the closest star to the Sun for about 32,000 years and will be so for about another 25,000 years, after which Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B will alternate approximately every 79.91 years as the closest star to the Sun. In 2001, J. García-Sánchez ""et al."" predicted that Proxima will make its closest approach"
"Federation during the mid-23rd century). The primary was a Class F star. Magnitude of this star was +5, which was the same brightness as Sol. This was a Federation system, with at least one planet being an affiliate. Proxima Centauri, part of a triple star system with Alpha Centauri A and B, is the nearest-known star to the Solar System. Even though it is known to be a flare star, a disproportionate number of early fiction titles are dedicated to Proxima Centauri, as the destination of humanity's first interstellar voyage. A planet in Proxima Centauri's habitable zone was detected in"
"Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ""Proxima Centauri"" for this star on August 21, 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU approved Star Names. Because of Proxima Centauri's southern declination, it can only be viewed south of latitude 27° N. Red dwarfs such as Proxima Centauri are far too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Even from Alpha Centauri A or B, Proxima would only be seen as a fifth magnitude star. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 11,"
"to the Sun in approximately 26,700 years, coming within . A 2010 study by V. V. Bobylev predicted a closest approach distance of in about 27,400 years, followed by a 2014 study by C. A. L. Bailer-Jones predicting a perihelion approach of in roughly 26,710 years. Proxima Centauri is orbiting through the Milky Way at a distance from the Galactic Centre that varies from , with an orbital eccentricity of 0.07. Ever since the discovery of Proxima, it has been suspected to be a true companion of the Alpha Centauri binary star system. Data from the Hipparcos satellite, combined with"
"X1 Centauri x Centauri is a star located in the constellation Centaurus. It is also known by its designations HD 107832 and HR 4712. The apparent magnitude of the star is about 5.3, meaning it is only visible to the naked eye under excellent viewing conditions. Its distance is about 440 light-years (140 parsecs), based on its parallax measured by the Hipparcos astrometry satellite. x Centauri's spectral type is B8/9V, meaning it is a late B-type main sequence star. These types of stars are a few times more massive than the Sun, and have effective temperatures of about 10,000 to"
"Gamma Crucis Gamma Crucis (γ Crucis, abbreviated Gamma Cru, γ Cru), also named Gacrux, is the nearest class M giant star to the Sun. The distance to Gacrux has been determined using parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, which yielded a value of away from the Sun. With an apparent visual magnitude of +1.63, this is the third-brightest star in the southern constellation of Crux, the Southern Cross, and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. A line from the two ""Pointers"", Alpha Centauri through Beta Centauri, leads to within a few degrees of this star. ""γ"
"the brightest globular cluster as visible from Earth and one of the largest known. Centaurus contains several very bright stars. Its alpha and beta stars are used as ""pointer stars"" to help observers find the constellation Crux. Centaurus has 281 stars above magnitude 6.5, meaning that they are visible to the unaided eye, the most of any constellation. Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun, has a high proper motion; it will be a mere half-degree from Beta Centauri in approximately 4000 years. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system that contains Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to"
"COROT-7 COROT-7 (TYC 4799-1733-1) is a G-type main sequence star, slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun. It has an apparent magnitude 11.67, fainter than Proxima Centauri (mag. 11.05), the nearest star to the Sun. This star is located in the Monoceros constellation. The star is located in the LRa01 field of view of the COROT spacecraft. It is about 500 light years from earth. According to the project website, this field is in the Monoceros constellation. Published data lists the stellar properties as being a G9V yellow dwarf with a temperature of 5250 K, a radius of about 82%"
"J Centauri J Centauri (J Cen) is a star in the constellation Centaurus. It is approximately 350 light years from Earth. J Centauri is a spectral class B3V main sequence star with a mean apparent magnitude of 4.5 and a luminosity 500 times that of the Sun. The temperature of the star's photosphere is nearly 24,000 K. The rotation velocity at the equator is at least 223 km/s. It is believed to be a binary star system. This star may be a member of the Scorpio-Centaurus OB association (Sco OB2). This is one of the nearest regions of recent star"
"of Proxima Centauri. In 1915, he found a faint star fairly close to and sharing the same large proper motion with Alpha Centauri, which until then was believed to be the closest star system to the Sun. Innes believed on rather slender grounds that it was closer than Alpha and in 1917 named it Proxima. He was not able to measure its distance accurately with his 9-inch refractor or the short focus Franklin-Adams astrograph. The definitive distance was measured by Harold Lee Alden at the Yale observatory station in Johannesburg which was equipped with a long focus camera designed for"
"Alpha Centauri in fiction As one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky, and the closest-known star system to the Sun, the Alpha Centauri system plays an important role in many fictional works of literature, popular culture, television, and film. Alpha Centauri, a double star system with the binary designation Alpha Centauri AB, is the brightest visible object in the southern constellation Centaurus. Its component stars are Alpha Centauri A (the primary—somewhat larger and brighter than the Sun) and Alpha Centauri B (the secondary—slightly smaller and dimmer). These stars are of spectral classes G2V (as is the Sun) and"
"X2 Centauri x Centauri is a star located in the constellation Centaurus. It is also known by its designations HD 108114 and HR 4724. The apparent magnitude of the star is about 5.7, meaning it is only visible to the naked eye under excellent viewing conditions. Its distance is about 440 light-years (140 parsecs), based on its parallax measured by the Hipparcos astrometry satellite. x Centauri's spectral type is B9IV/V, meaning it is a late B-type main sequence star or subgiant. These types of stars are a few times more massive than the Sun, and have effective temperatures of about"
"the Sun. Traditionally called Rigil Kentaurus or Toliman, meaning ""foot of the centaur"", the system has an overall magnitude of -0.28 and is 4.4 light-years from Earth. The primary and secondary are both yellow-hued stars; the primary, is of magnitude -0.01 and the secondary is of magnitude 1.35. Proxima, the tertiary star, is a red dwarf of magnitude 11.0; it is almost 2 degrees away from the primary and secondary and has a period of approximately one million years. Also a flare star, Proxima has minutes-long outbursts where it brightens by over a magnitude. The primary and secondary have a"
"Omicron1 Centauri Omicron Centauri (ο Cen, ο Centauri) is a star in the constellation Centaurus. It is approximately 6,000 light years from Earth. ο Centauri is a yellow G-type supergiant or hypergiant with a mean apparent magnitude of +5.13. It is classified as a semiregular variable star and its brightness varies from magnitude +5.8 to +6.6 with a period of 200 days. Other studies have reported only small brightness variations. The spectral type is often given as G3 O-Ia indicating a highly luminous mass-losing hypergiant star. It has also be classified as F8 Ia0 and F7 Ia/ab. The size, luminosity,"
"formation. J Centauri J Centauri (J Cen) is a star in the constellation Centaurus. It is approximately 350 light years from Earth. J Centauri is a spectral class B3V main sequence star with a mean apparent magnitude of 4.5 and a luminosity 500 times that of the Sun. The temperature of the star's photosphere is nearly 24,000 K. The rotation velocity at the equator is at least 223 km/s. It is believed to be a binary star system. This star may be a member of the Scorpio-Centaurus OB association (Sco OB2). This is one of the nearest regions of recent"
"Wolf 359 Wolf 359 is a red dwarf star located in the constellation Leo, near the ecliptic. At a distance of approximately 7.9 light years from Earth, it has an apparent magnitude of 13.54 and can only be seen with a large telescope. Wolf 359 is one of the nearest stars to the Sun; only the Alpha Centauri system (including Proxima Centauri), Barnard's Star and the brown dwarfs Luhman 16 and WISE 0855−0714 are known to be closer. Its proximity to Earth has led to its mention in several works of fiction. Wolf 359 is one of the faintest and"
"uncertainty due to stellar activity, that perturbs the radial velocity measurements needed to ""weigh"" the planets. COROT-7 COROT-7 (TYC 4799-1733-1) is a G-type main sequence star, slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun. It has an apparent magnitude 11.67, fainter than Proxima Centauri (mag. 11.05), the nearest star to the Sun. This star is located in the Monoceros constellation. The star is located in the LRa01 field of view of the COROT spacecraft. It is about 500 light years from earth. According to the project website, this field is in the Monoceros constellation. Published data lists the stellar properties as"
"the Upper-Centaurus Lupus sub-group in the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association, the nearest such association of co-moving massive stars to the Sun. Nu Centauri Nu Centauri (ν Cen, ν Centauri) is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. The combined apparent visual magnitude of the pair is +3.41, making this one of the brightest members of the constellation. Based upon parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, this star system is located at a distance of roughly from Earth. The margin of error for this distance is about 2%, which is enough to give an error in distance of"
"Kappa Centauri Kappa Centauri (κ Cen, κ Centauri) is a binary star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. With an apparent visual magnitude of +3.14, it can be viewed with the naked eye on a dark night. Parallax measurements place it at an estimated distance of from Earth. This is a spectroscopic binary system where the presence of an orbiting companion is revealed by shifts in the absorption lines caused by the Doppler effect. The primary component is a huge star, with about seven times the Sun's mass and four times the Sun's radius. It has a stellar classification of"
"would be a target for the Starshot program. In January 2017, Breakthrough Initiatives and the ESO entered a collaboration to search for habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system. The agreement involves Breakthrough Initiatives providing funding for an upgrade to the VISIR (VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-Infrared) instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. This upgrade will greatly increase the likelihood of planet detection in the system. Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri (α Centauri, abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen) is the closest star system to the Solar System at from the Sun. It is a triple star"
"Phi Centauri Phi Centauri, Latinized from φ Centauri, is a blue-white hued star in the southern constellation Centaurus. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +3.7. The annual parallax shift is 6.21 mas as measured from Earth, which yields a distance estimate of around 530 light years. It is moving further from the Sun with a radial velocity of +5 km/s. This is a B-type subgiant star with a stellar classification of B2 IV. It has no known companions, but does show radial velocity variations and higher order pulsations in the spectrum. The star"
"Epsilon Centauri Epsilon Centauri (ε Cen, ε Centauri) is a star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It is one of the brightest stars in the constellation with a slightly variable apparent visual magnitude of +2.30. Parallax measurements put it at a distance of around from Earth. In Chinese, (), meaning ""Southern Gate"", refers to an asterism consisting of ε Centauri and α Centauri. Consequently, ε Centauri itself is known as (, .) ε Centauri is a massive star with nearly 12 times the mass of the Sun. The spectrum matches a stellar classification of B1 III, indicating this is"
"now based on radar reflection off the surfaces of planets. The angles involved in these calculations are very small and thus difficult to measure. The nearest star to the Sun (and thus the star with the largest parallax), Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 0.7687 ± 0.0003 arcsec. This angle is approximately that subtended by an object 2 centimeters in diameter located 5.3 kilometers away. The fact that stellar parallax was so small that it was unobservable at the time was used as the main scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern age. It is clear from Euclid's geometry"
"RR Centauri RR Centauri is a variable star of apparent magnitude maximum +7.29. It is located in the constellation of Centaurus, approximately 320 light years distant from the solar system. The system is a contact binary of the W UMa type - two stars in physical contact whose two components share a gaseous envelope. Its spectral type is A9V or F0V. The binary nature of the star was discovered in 1896 by the Scottish-South African astronomer Alexander Roberts, so the system has been well observed for over a century. The primary component has a mass of 1.82 solar masses, an"
"is Proxima Centauri, which is 39.9 trillion kilometres, or 4.2 light-years. Travelling at the orbital speed of the Space Shuttle (8 kilometres per second—almost 30,000 kilometres per hour), it would take about 150,000 years to arrive. This is typical of stellar separations in galactic discs. Stars can be much closer to each other in the centres of galaxies and in globular clusters, or much farther apart in galactic halos. Due to the relatively vast distances between stars outside the galactic nucleus, collisions between stars are thought to be rare. In denser regions such as the core of globular clusters or"
"SX Centauri SX Centauri is a variable star in the constellation Centaurus. An RV Tauri variable, its light curve alternates between deep and shallow minima, varying its apparent magnitude from 9.1 to 12.4. From the period-luminosity relationship, it is estimated to be around 1.6 kpc (5200 light-years) from Earth. The first Gaia data release gives a parallax of 1.27 mas, corresponding to a smaller distance of 787 pc. RV Tauri variables like SX Centauri are supergiant pulsating stars and a subtype of the population II Cepheids. They are stars that have already passed the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and are"
"(LCC) group of the Scorpius-Centaurus Association, which is the nearest OB association to the Sun. This is a loose grouping of stars that share a common motion through space and therefore formed in the same molecular cloud. The LCC group has an estimated age of 16–20 million years and is centered on a mean distance of from Earth. Lambda Centauri Lambda Centauri (λ Cen, λ Centauri) is a star in the southern circumpolar constellation of Centaurus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +3.13, which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye from the southern hemisphere and"