Proxima Centauri (Alpha Centauri C)

Posted by SERGIO EGUIVAR
on Monday, July 9, 2012

The reddish medium size star in the centre of the image is Proxima Centauri

Proxima in Latin means "next to" or "nearest to" is the closest star to our planet after the Sun and lies about 4.2 light years. Although its proximity is too fain to be seen with the naked eye due to its low 11.05 apparent magnitude. Proxima Centauri may be part of a triple star system conformed with Alpha Centauri A and B.

Seen from the Earth, Proxima has a large, proper motion and moves against the multitude of background stars at about 3.85 arc seconds per year. From an observer's perspective, this will carry it at a length in the sky of about a full width of the moon every 500 years

It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes from the Union Observatory in South Africa.

The image totalizes 45 minutes exposures with 3 minutes subs. Photons were collected using a Celestron 8” SCT and a QSI 583 WS camera riding in a NEQ6 mount from relative darks skies, 100 miles north from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tags: Star
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