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The distance of Alpha Centauri from the Earth is now reckoned at 4.396 light-years or 4.159 × 10 13 km.) α Centauri A (left) is of the same stellar type G2 as the Sun, while α Centauri B (right) is a K1-type star. [67] Later, John Herschel made the first micrometrical observations in 1834. [68]
The closest encounter to the Sun so far predicted is the low-mass orange dwarf star Gliese 710 / HIP 89825 with roughly 60% the mass of the Sun. [4] It is currently predicted to pass 0.1696 ± 0.0065 ly (10 635 ± 500 au) from the Sun in 1.290 ± 0.04 million years from the present, close enough to significantly disturb the Solar System's Oort ...
The Alpha Centauri star system is the closest star system to the Sun. ... The first star to have its distance to Earth measured after the Sun. Also the 15th nearest ...
Proxima Centauri is a member of the Alpha Centauri star system, being identified as component Alpha Centauri C, and is 2.18° to the southwest of the Alpha Centauri AB pair. It is currently 12,950 AU (0.2 ly ) from AB, which it orbits with a period of about 550,000 years.
Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, [19] at a distance of about 4.2 ly (1.3 parsecs). [4] It orbits Proxima Centauri every 11.186 Earth days at a distance of about 0.049 AU, [1] over 20 times closer to Proxima Centauri than Earth is to the Sun. [20] As of 2021, it is unclear whether it has an eccentricity [e] [23] but Proxima Centauri b is unlikely to have any obliquity. [24]
The nearest known star is Proxima Centauri at 269,000 AU (4.25 ly), [4] followed by Alpha Centauri at about 4.35 light years. [4] Oort cloud comets orbit the Sun at great distances, but can then be perturbed by passing stars and the galactic tides. [5]
Evolution of the solar luminosity, radius and effective temperature compared to the present-day Sun. After Ribas (2009) [3] The uncrewed SOHO spacecraft was used to measure the radius of the Sun by timing transits of Mercury across the surface during 2003 and 2006. The result was a measured radius of 696,342 ± 65 kilometres (432,687 ± 40 miles).
Studies of Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to the Sun, suggested that binaries need not be discounted in the search for habitable planets. Centauri A and B have an 11 au distance at closest approach (23 au mean), and both have stable habitable zones.