Proxima Centauri
Discover amazing facts about Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system and home to potentially habitable planets
Proxima Centauri is a small red dwarf star that occasionally flares with bursts of energy
Proxima Centauri is our closest stellar neighbor, located just 4.24 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus! Even though it's the nearest star to our solar system, Proxima Centauri is much too faint to see with the naked eye. This small red dwarf star is only about 12% the mass of our Sun and glows with a dim reddish light. Despite being our closest neighbor, it would take our fastest spacecraft over 70,000 years to reach Proxima Centauri!
What makes Proxima Centauri incredibly exciting is that it has planets orbiting around it, including at least one that might be suitable for life! Proxima Centauri b is located in the star's "habitable zone" - the perfect distance where liquid water could exist on its surface. Scientists are very interested in studying these planets because they're the closest worlds outside our solar system. Proxima Centauri is also a "flare star," which means it occasionally releases powerful bursts of energy that could affect any planets orbiting around it.
