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Alpha Centauri C is about 13,000 AU (0.21 ly; 1.9 × 10 ^ 12 km) from Alpha Centauri AB, equivalent to about 5% of the distance between Alpha Centauri AB and the Sun. [17] [57] [69] Until 2017, measurements of its small speed and its trajectory were of too little accuracy and duration in years to determine whether it is bound to Alpha Centauri ...
The total force exerted on an 800 by 800 metres (2,600 by 2,600 ft) solar sail, for example, is about 5 N (1.1 lbf) at Earth's distance from the Sun, [2] making it a low-thrust propulsion system, similar to spacecraft propelled by electric engines, but as it uses no propellant, that force is exerted almost constantly and the collective effect ...
[59] [60] A Genesis probe would travel at lower speeds, at a speed 4.6% of the speed of light, which would take at least 90 years to get to Alpha Centauri A. The sail could be configured so that the stellar pressure from Alpha Centauri A brakes and deflects the probe toward Alpha Centauri B, where it would arrive after a few days.
Sun: 1.58 × 10-5 (149,600,000 km) G2V 1 -26.74 [117] 4.83 [117] The star at the centre of the Solar System. Alpha Centauri A (Rigil Kentaurus) 4.344 ± 0.002: G2V [51] 1.2175 ± 0.0055 [52] 1.0788 ± 0.0029 [52] 0.01 [53] 4.38 [54] It is the 2nd/3rd nearest individual star to the Solar System, and the fourth-brightest individual star in the ...
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 that is one of two companions of Proxima Centauri), can be pictured by scaling down the Earth–Sun distance to one meter (3.28 ft). On this scale, the distance to Alpha Centauri A would be ...
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 ...
But any comet currently more than about 150,000 AU (2 ly) from the Sun can be considered lost to the interstellar medium. 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]
The addition of the Alpha Centauri Obelisk made it the world's largest exhibition, [2] [3] until the Akaa Solar System Scale Model added Proxima Centauri in 2018 at a distance of 13,370 kilometres (8,310 mi) away from Akaa.