Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauriăl'fə sĕntôr'ē, brightest star in the constellation Centaurus and 3d-brightest star in the sky; also known as Rigil Kent or Rigil Kentaurus; 1992 position R.A. 14h39.1m, Dec. -60°49'. It is a yellow main-sequence star of the same spectral class (G2 V) as the sun and of about the same size and mass; its apparent magnitude is -0.26. Actually, Alpha Centauri is a triple-star system, the components being designated A, B, and C. Alpha Centauri C is also called Proxima Centauri because it is the closest star to the earth (other than the sun), at a distance of 4.28 light-years, components A and B are currently 4.34 light-years away. Proxima Centauri orbits about the common center of mass of the system with a period of more than 250,000 years, so that in about 125,000 years it will be more distant than A and B.
The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-09 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
Wikipedia search results for: Alpha Centauri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alpha Centauri ; is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus and an established binary star system, Alpha Centauri AB. To the unaided eye it appears as a single star, whose total visual magnitude would identify it as the third brightest star in the night sky.
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to the Solar System, being only 1.34 parsecs, or 4.37 light years away from our Sun.
"Alpha Centauri" is the name given to what appears as a single star to the naked eye and the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. With the aid of a telescope, Alpha Centauri can be resolved into a binary star...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Alpha Centauri
Results 1 - 2 of 2
- light-year
Light-year, in astronomy, unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one sidereal year. It is 9.461 × 1012 km (about 6 million million mi). Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri, the ...
- Centaurus
Centaurus, southern constellation located N and E of Crux, the Southern Cross. It is known especially for its bright stars Alpha Centauri and Hadar. It also contains Centaurus A, a radio galax...
