Glossary term: Proxima Centauri
Description: Proxima Centauri, also known as Alpha Centauri C, is the nearest star to the Sun at a distance of 4.24 light years (1.302 parsecs), or about 40 trillion kilometers. It is a red dwarf star, smaller than the Sun in size and mass, and therefore too faint to be seen with the naked eye. At the time of writing, there is one confirmed planet that orbits Proxima Centauri. It has been designated Proxima Centauri b, and its orbit is in the so-called habitable zone of the star. Two additional candidates for planets, Proxima Centauri c and d, have not yet been confirmed. Together with Alpha Centauri A and B, Proxima Centauri forms the Alpha–Centauri star system, which is comprised of three gravitationally bound stars.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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In Other Languages
- Arabic: قنطورس الأقرب
- German: Proxima Centauri
- French: Proxima du Centaure
- Italian: Proxima Centauri
- Korean: 센타우루스자리프록시마별
- Brazilian Portuguese: Proxima Centauri
- Simplified Chinese: 比邻星
- Traditional Chinese: 比鄰星
Related Media
Proxima Centauri, Our Closest Stellar Neighbor
Caption: Hubble's view of Proxima Centauri, a M-type dwarf and the nearest star to our Solar System. While this is the nearest star to the Sun, it was not discovered until 1915 due to its inherent faintness. Despite its proximity, it remains a point-like object in this image as even the closest stars to the Sun are very far away when compared to their physical size.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
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License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
