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A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr [3]), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly 9 460 730 472 580.8 km, which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi.
Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun, located 4.25 light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus. This object was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes . It is a small, low-mass star , too faint to be seen with the naked eye , with an apparent magnitude of 11.13.
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to 3.26 light-years or 206,265 astronomical units (AU), i.e. 30.9 trillion kilometres (19.2 trillion miles).
With the release of Gaia's observations of the star, it has since been refined to a much closer 0.178 light-years (0.055 pc), close enough to significantly disturb objects in the Oort cloud, which extends 1.2 light-years (0.37 pc) from the Sun. [74]
Distance of the outer limit of Oort cloud from the Sun (estimated, corresponds to 1.2 light-years) — Parsec: 206 265 — One parsec. The parsec is defined in terms of the astronomical unit, is used to measure distances beyond the scope of the Solar System and is about 3.26 light-years: 1 pc = 1 au/tan(1″) [6] [61] Proxima Centauri: 268 000 ...
Sirius, at 9.2 light years away from the system, would still be the brightest star in the night sky, with a magnitude of -1.2, but would be located in Orion less than a degree away from Betelgeuse. Procyon, which would also be at a slightly further distance than from the Sun, would move to outshine Pollux in the middle of Gemini.
The first report of an exoplanet within this range was in 1998 for a planet orbiting around Gliese 876 (15.3 light-years (ly) away), and the latest as of 2024 is one around Struve 2398 A (11.5 ly). The closest exoplanets are those found orbiting the star closest to the Solar System, which is Proxima Centauri 4.25 light-years away
Located 31 light years from Earth, this planet is 1.26 times the mass of Earth and has a radius of 1.08 times the Earth's. Though Wolf 1069 b is likely tidally locked, its daylight side may still be habitable. It has similar characteristics to Proxima Centauri b and is one of the nearest discovered potentially habitable exoplanets to Earth.