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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
The Nearest Stars
Explanation: Which stars are closest to the Sun? The closest is Proxima Centauri , one of three stars that orbit each other about 4 light-years away in the Alpha-Centauri system. Alpha Centauri is easily visible from Earth's Southern Hemisphere . Next is Barnard's Star , a dim star visible with a telescope in the constellation of Ophiuchus . Sirius , the brightest star in the night sky, is part of the fifth closest star system, from which light takes 8.6 years to reach us. The nearest 25 star systems are shown on the above map , out to 13 light-years . Past that there are probably stars so dim that their proximity has not yet been discovered. Research continues in trying to identify an estimated 130 missing star systems out to 32 light-years.
| Date | April 21, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Drawing Credit: T. J. Henry et al., RECONS Team |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |