Today’s Friday Fun Fact discusses the Centauri System
27th March 2026
The closest actual star to our solar system is Proxima Centauri – you may have heard of this before. But did you know about the other bodies in the system?
Alpha Centauri, the star system, consists of three stars, Rigil Kentaurus (α Centauri A), Toliman (α Centauri B), and Proxima Centauri (α Centauri C).
Rigil Kentaurus & Toliman are Sun-like stars, (Class G and K respectively), that form a binary system α Centauri AB. Proxima Centauri is red dwarf (class M), that orbits the binary pair.
There are two confirmed planets, Proxima B, and Proxima D, similar in size to Earth, and a third “mini-Neptune”, Proxima C, is a disputed but possible third planet.
There was a proposed probe project, that’s presently been put on indefinite hold, named Breakthrough Starshot, which would’ve used Solar sails to get to 20% of the speed of light, which would’ve taken just 20 years to get the stars, 4.2 light years away.
A image depicting the orbits of Alpha Centauri A, B and Proxima Centauri
Credit:@terrylovejoy on Steemit
An image from the Hubble Space Telescope, showing Centauri A & B
Credit: NASA Hubble Mission Team / ESA