Alpha Centauri A&B



Alpha Centauri (α Centauri, α Cen; also known as Rigil Kentaurus, Rigil Kent / ˈ r aɪ dʒ əl /, or Toliman) is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Although it appears to the unaided eye as a single object, Alpha Centauri is actually a binary star system (designated Alpha Centauri AB or α Cen AB) whose combined visual magnitude of -0.27 would qualify it as the third single brightest star in the night sky after -0.72 magnitude Canopus.

Its individual component stars are named Alpha Centauri A (α Cen A), with 110% of the mass and 151.9% the luminosity of our Sun, and Alpha Centauri B (α Cen B), at 90.7% of the Sun's mass and 50.0% of its luminosity. During the stars' 79.91 year orbit about a common center, the distance between them varies from about that between Pluto and the Sun to that betweenSaturn and the Sun. They average 1.34 parsecs or 4.37 light years away from the Sun.[10]

A third star, known as Proxima Centauri, Proxima or Alpha Centauri C (α Cen C), is probably gravitationally associated with Alpha Centauri AB. Proxima is now placed at the slightly smaller distance of 1.29 parsecs or 4.24 light years from the Sun, making it the closest star to the Sun, even though it is not visible to the naked eye. The true separation of Proxima from Alpha Centauri AB is about 0.06 parsecs, 0.2 light years or 13,000 astronomical units (AU), equivalent to 400 times the size of Neptune's orbit.