PROXIMA CENTAURI

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Proxima Centauri mean? 

• PROXIMA CENTAURI (noun)
  The noun PROXIMA CENTAURI has 1 sense:

1. the nearest star to the sun; distance: 4.3 light years

  Familiarity information: PROXIMA CENTAURI used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROXIMA CENTAURI (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The nearest star to the sun; distance: 4.3 light years

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Proxima; Proxima Centauri

Instance hypernyms:

flare star (a red dwarf star in which luminosity can change several magnitudes in a few minutes)

Holonyms ("Proxima Centauri" is a member of...):

Centaur; Centaurus (a conspicuous constellation in the southern hemisphere near the Southern Cross)

 Context examples 

A rocky extrasolar planet with a mass similar to Earth’s was recently detected around Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun.

(Planet Orbiting Nearest Star Could be Habitable, NASA)

To put it into perspective, Neptune is about 30 AU away, the Voyager 1 probe is currently just under 140 AU away, and the nearest known star Proxima Centauri is 268,770 AU away.

(Our Sun Could Have Been Born With an Evil Twin Called "Nemesis", The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Many red dwarf stars, including Proxima Centauri, are subject to flares that occasionally bathe their orbiting planets in deadly ultraviolet and X-ray radiation.

(Closest Temperate World Orbiting Quiet Star Discovered, ESO)

The new planet circles Proxima Centauri, the smallest member of a triple star system known to science fiction fans everywhere as Alpha Centauri.

(ESO Discovers Earth-Size Planet in Habitable Zone of Nearest Star, NASA)

The nearest known exoplanet is Proxima Centauri b, which is 4.25 light years away.

(Some Exoplanets May Have Greater Variety of Life than Exists on Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This result suggests that Proxima Centauri may have a multiple planet system with a rich history of interactions that resulted in the formation of a dust belt.

(ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star, ESO)

The closest system to Earth, a trio of stars, is Alpha Centauri, that consists of Alpha Centauri, a close companion to it and the more distant companion Proxima Centauri, at about 4 light-years away.

(A cold, close neighbor of the Sun, NASA)

A team of scientists led by Ian Boutle at the University of Exeter have created successful simulations of two possible atmospheres of Proxima B, an exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri, one a simple atmosphere of nitrogen tinged with carbon dioxide and another an Earth-like mix of gases.

(Simulations show planet orbiting Proxima Centauri could have liquid water, Wikinews)

Both belts are much further from Proxima Centauri than the planet Proxima b, which orbits at just four million kilometres from its parent star.

(ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star, ESO)

The ALMA Observatory in Chile has detected dust around the closest star to the Solar System, Proxima Centauri.

(ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star, ESO)