Proxima Centauri
GJ 551 · HIP 70890 · α Cen
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 11.01 mag
- Parallax
- 771.64 mas → about 4.2 light-years away
- Spectral type
- M5Ve
- Surface temperature
- 2,900 K
- Right ascension
- 217.429°
- Declination
- -62.6795°
- Designation
- GJ 551
- Bayer designation
- α Cen
- HIP number
- 70890
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-08-21
- Name language
- Latin
- Name origin (IAU)
- Its recent Latin name meaning "the Nearest", as this component of the system is currently the nearest star to our solar system.
Source:IAU Working Group on Star Names · checked 2026-11-02 ↗ESA Hipparcos Catalogue (ESA Gaia Archive) · checked 2026-11-03 ↗NASA Exoplanet Archive (Caltech/IPAC) · checked 2026-11-03 ↗
Related
Constellation
Planets
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 4.2 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 2022 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 11 it is fainter than the naked-eye limit (about 6) — you need binoculars or a telescope.
- Declination -62.7° — it never rises in Seoul (37.6° N); you need to be farther south to see it.