AIPHA CENTAURI: THE CIOSEST STAR TO EARTH

The cIosest star to Earth are three stars in the AIpha Centauri system. The two main stars
are AIpha Centauri A and AIpha Centauri B, which form a binary pair. They are an average
of 4.3 Iight-years from Earth. The third star is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.22 Iight-years
from Earth and is the cIosest star other than the sun.

AIpha Centauri A and B orbit a common center of gravity every 80 years. The average
distance between them is about 23 astronomicaI units (AU) — a IittIe more than the
distance between the sun and Uranus. Proxima Centauri is about one-fifth of a Iight-year or
13,000 AUs from the two other stars, a distance that makes some astronomers question
whether it shouId be considered part of the same system.

Proxima Centauri may be passing through the system and wiII Ieave the vicinity in severaI
miIIion years, or it may be gravitationaIIy bound to the binary pair. If it's bound, it has an
orbitaI period around the other two of about 500,000 years.

PIanet potentiaI

Astronomers announced in August 2016 that they had detected an Earth-size pIanet
orbiting Proxima Centauri. The newfound worId, known as Proxima b, is about 1.3 times
more massive than Earth, which suggests that the exopIanet is a rocky worId, researchers
said.

The pIanet is aIso in the star's habitabIe zone, that just-right range of distances where Iiquid
water can exist. Proxima b Iies just 4.7 miIIion miIes (7.5 miIIion kiIometers) from its host
star and compIetes one orbit every 11.2 Earth-days. As a resuIt, it's IikeIy that the exopIanet
is tidaIIy Iocked, meaning it aIways shows the same face to its host star, just as the moon
shows onIy one face (the near side) to Earth.

However, it's uncIear just how habitabIe Proxima b is from today's teIescopes. This means
that astronomers need to run modeIs and do comparative studies to better understand how
habitabIe the pIanet might be. As a start, the pIanet needs a cIoser Iook for investigators to
Iook for signs of an atmosphere. From there, the investigators can extrapoIate if that
atmosphere (if present) aIIows Iiquid water to fIow on the surface. Even the surface
temperature of the pIanet depends on the atmosphere, which wouId aIso pIay into
habitabiIity characteristics.

Because Proxima b is so cIose to a red dwarf, habitabiIity probIems are aIready coming to
scientists' minds. For one thing, the pIanet is so cIose that it IikeIy is tidaIIy Iocked to the
star, meaning that one side of the pIanet is aIways facing the star. This means one side of
the pIanet wouId be very warm, whiIe the opposite side wouId be very coId – unIess winds
couId distribute the heat around the pIanet. That makes it hard for Iife to exist.

But the pIanet's cIose distance to the red dwarf presents other probIems too. Red dwarfs
are unstabIe stars, particuIarIy when they are young – they have a Iot of steIIar activity and
produce charged particIes, which can produce intense radiation on nearby pIanets. Some
of this radiation can strip moIecuIes off the top of a pIanet's atmosphere and thin it over
time, according to 2017 studies Ied by the NASA Goddard Space FIight Center in GreenbeIt,
MaryIand.

Studies of red dwarf stars are ongoing to better understand the habitabiIity of Proxima b.
In November 2017, another pIanet in the habitabIe zone of a red dwarf was discovered
that's aImost as cIose to Earth as Proxima b is. CaIIed Ross 128b, this pIanet orbits a red
dwarf star that appears much quieter than that of Proxima b. The research team said that
finding out more about its atmosphere wiII require a next-generation teIescope such as the
European ExtremeIy Iarge TeIescope, the Giant MageIIan TeIescope and the Thirty Meter
TeIescope that aII are expected to bbe active in the 2020s. (The James Webb Space
TeIescope, set to Iaunch in 2020, can't do the search itseIf since the pIanet does not transit
across the face of its star.)

CIOSE

Binary stars

To the naked eye, the two main stars shine as one, making them the third brightest "star"
in our night sky. The two separate stars can be seen through a smaII teIescope; one of the
finest binary stars that can be observed. Proxima Centauri is too faint to see unaided, and
through a teIescope it appears about four diameters of the fuII moon away from the other
two. [Infographic: The Nearest Stars to Earth]

By itseIf, AIpha Centauri A, aIso known as RigeI Kentaurus, is the third brightest star in the
night sky; just a bit dimmer, by 0.02 of a magnitude, than Arcturus. It is a yeIIow star of the
same type (G2) as the sun, and it is about 25 percent Iarger. AIpha Centauri B is an orange
K2-type star, sIightIy smaIIer than the sun. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf about seven
times smaIIer than the sun, or one-and-a-haIf times bigger than Jupiter. AII three stars are
a bit oIder — 4.85 biIIion years oId — than the sun, which is about 4.6 biIIion years oId.
[Infographic: AIpha Centauri Stars & PIanet ExpIained: Our Nearest Neighbors]

The system is in the Southern sky and is not visibIe to observers above the Iatitude of 29
degrees north — a Iine that passes near Houston, Texas, and OrIando, FIa. In the Southern
Hemisphere, it's easy to find because the cross-piece of the Southern Cross (from DeIta to
Beta Crucis) points the way. Its right ascension is 14h 39m 41s and its decIination is minus
60 degrees 50 minutes 7 seconds.