Rigil Kentaurus
Sun-like (yellow main-sequence) star · Alpha Centauri A
Closest Sun-like star to Earth
A near-twin of the Sun and the brightest member of the Alpha Centauri system, Rigil Kentaurus lies just over four light-years away, making it part of the closest stellar system to our own.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
1.1 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
1.5 ×
as bright as the Sun
5,790 K
surface · yellow dwarf, like our Sun
1 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
4 ly
from Earth
0.0
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 1.5 times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 4 years to reach us, so you see Rigil Kentaurus as it was 4 years ago.
Source · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Bound into the system
Proxima Cen
One of the suns of the Proxima Cen system, which hosts 2 known planets.
Other notable stars in Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Stars of similar brightness
TolimanOrange dwarf (K-type main-sequence) star0.5 ×Tabby's StarF-type main-sequence star4.7 ×ProcyonYellow-white subgiant6.9 ×AltairWhite main-sequence star11 ×DenebolaWhite main-sequence star15 ×FomalhautWhite main-sequence star17 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→