The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that is part of the Alpha Centauri system. It lies about 4.24–4.25 light-years away from the Sun and is the nearest known star to us outside the Solar System. Proxima Centauri is too faint to see with the naked eye, and it orbits the brighter Alpha Centauri A and B pair at a wide separation. Key points:
- Proxima Centauri is the closest star to Earth after the Sun, at ~4.25 light-years distance.
- It is a small, low-mass red dwarf and is gravitationally bound to the Alpha Centauri AB system.
- The star has exoplanets and exhibits stellar activity typical of red dwarfs, including flares.
If you’d like, I can provide a quick comparison of Proxima Centauri with its stellar neighbors in the Alpha Centauri system or summarize how its distance is measured using parallax and other methods.
