Star
The closest known star to the Sun, a small red dwarf orbited by at least one Earth-sized planet.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 4.25 ly |
| Diameter | 428,000 km |
| Mass | 2.45 × 10²⁹ kg |
| Temperature | 2,769°C |
| Rotation period | 1,982 hours |
| Apparent magnitude | 11.13 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Discovered | 1915 |
Stars spend most of their lives fusing hydrogen into helium in their core, and it's the balance between that outward pressure and gravity pulling inward that fixes how big and how bright a star gets.
At 428,000 km across, Proxima Centauri is 31 percent of the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 12 percent of the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Proxima Centauri tonight left it around 4 years ago.
Of the 98 stars these pages cover, only 1 lie closer to us.
Its surface sits at 3,042 K, cooler than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since 1915.
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