Proxima Centauri
The nearest star to the Sun.
Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun, 4.25 light-years away in Centaurus. Robert Innes discovered it in 1915. It is part of the Alpha Centauri system, orbiting the bright pair every 550,000 years.
It is a red dwarf too faint to see without a telescope, about 12.5% of the Sun's mass, and a flare star. It has two known exoplanets.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Red dwarf
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Distance
- 4.25 light-years
- Discovered
- 1915 (Robert Innes)
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