The Universe Within 12.5 Light Years

Summary

The Universe within 12.5 Light YearsThe Nearest Stars Number of stars within 12.5 light years = 33 About the Map This map shows all the star systems that lie within 12.5 light years of our Sun. Most of the stars are red dwarfs - stars with a tenth of the Sun's mass and less than one hundredth the luminosity. Roughly eighty percent of all the stars in the universe are red dwarfs, and the nearest star - Proxima - is a typical example. Additional Maps This is a diagram that zooms out from the Earth's orbit to the nearest star system. It tries to show just how large the distance to the nearest star really is. Here is a map of all the known stars that lie within 20 light years plotted using the data provided below. Data and Catalogs There are over 100 stars within 20 light years. This is a list of the known stars that lie within this distance. This is a page showing some simple animations of double, triple and quadruple star systems, to demonstrate how stars orbit each other. Information on the Nearest Stars Sun - Type=G2, Magnitude=-26.8, Distance=0.0000158 ly A typical yellow dwarf star. It has eight planets orbiting it. Proxima Centauri - Type=M5, Magnitude=11.0, Distance=4.22 ly This dim red dwarf is the nearest star to the Sun, and it is a member of the Alpha Centauri system despite lying 0.24 light years from the main pair of stars, requiring over one million years to orbit them. Proxima was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes and was at that time the least luminous star known. It is also a flare star - capable of brightening a magnitude or more in minutes. Alpha Centauri A,B - Type=G2+K0, Magnitudes=0.0+1.4, Distance=4.39 ly Just slightly further from us than Proxima, lie the orange and yellow dwarf stars that make up Alpha Centauri. Orbiting each other in an 80 year period, together they make up one of the brightest objects in southern hemisphere skies. Seen from Alpha Centauri, the third member of the system, Proxima, is a dim (magnitude 4.8) star. Barnard's Star...