Proxima Centauri: The Closest Star
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture ofthe Day
Does the closest star to
our Sun have planets? No one is sure -- but you can now follow frequent updates of a new search that is taking place during the first few
months of this year.
The closest star, Proxima
Centauri, is the nearest member of the Alpha Centauri star system. Light takes only 4.24 years to reach us from Proxima Centauri.
This small red star, captured in the center of the featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope, is so faint that it was only discovered in 1915 and is only visible through a
telescope.
Telescope-created
X-shaped diffraction spikes surround Proxima Centauri, while several
stars further out in our Milky Way Galaxy are visible in the background.
The brightest star in
the Alpha Centauri system is quite similar to our Sun, has been known as long as
recorded history, and is the third brightest star in the night sky.
The Alpha Centauri system is primarily visible from Earth's Southern Hemisphere.
Starting last week,
the European Southern Observatory's Pale Red Dot
project began
investigating slight changes in Proxima
Centauri to see if they result from a planet -- possibly an
Earth-sized planet.
Although unlikely, were
a modern
civilization found living on a
planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, its proximity makes it a
reasonable possibility that humanity could communicate with them.
