The Nearest Stars, as Seen from the Earth
Sun--26.724.8G2V
Proxima CentauriV645 Cen4.211.05 (var.)15.5M5.5Vc
Rigil KentaurusAlpha Cen A4.3-0.014.4G2V
Alpha Cen B4.31.335.7K1V
Barnard's Star6.09.5413.2M3.8V
Wolf 359CN Leo7.713.53 (var.)16.7M5.8Vc
BD +36 21478.27.5010.5M2.1Vc
Luyten 726-8AUV Cet A8.412.52 (var.)15.5M5.6Vc
Luyten 726-8BUV Cet B8.413.02 (var.)16.0M5.6Vc
Sirius AAlpha CMa A8.6-1.461.4A1Vm
Sirius BAlpha CMa B8.68.311.2DA
Ross 1549.410.4513.1M3.6Vc
Ross 24810.412.2914.8M4.9Vc
Epsilon Eri10.83.736.1K2Vc
Ross 12810.911.1013.5M4.1V
61 Cyg A (V1803 Cyg)11.15.2 (var.)7.6K3.5Vc
61 Cyg B11.16.038.4K4.7Vc
Epsilon Ind11.24.687.0K3Vc
BD +43 44 A11.28.0810.4M1.3Vc
BD +43 44 B11.211.0613.4M3.8Vc
Luyten 789-611.212.1814.5
Procyon AAlpha CMi A11.40.382.6F5IV-V
Procyon BAlpha CMi B11.410.713.0DF
BD +59 1915 A11.68.9011.2M3.0V
BD +59 1915 B11.69.6911.9M3.5V
CoD -36 1569311.77.359.6M1.3Vc
We live very close (500 lightseconds) to a star. This is probably a necessary condition for the originination and maintenance of life.
Stars are very far apart (average about 8 lightyears for the closest dozen), compared to their size (about 2 lightseconds for the Sun); by a factor of 250 million or so.
Many stars occur in multiple systems, shown here by the suffixes A, B and C from brightest to dimmest. In fact, about 55% of stars in this list are in multiple systems. The nearest star is a triple. And we may be missing many dim stars.
Most of the nearby stars are dimmer (higher numbers for absolute magnitude) than our Sun, by factors of 100 to 10,000.
0 Comments