Alpha Centauri

Binary star system 4.37 light-years away. Alpha Centauri A (G2V) is very similar to our Sun. Alpha Centauri B (K1V) is slightly smaller and cooler.

HYG 4.2 Position basis, the same label the app shows on the selection card.

Open in Space Time

Every aspect, with its origin

One record per aspect. The origin says what kind of thing each value is; the source says where it came from; the limit says what it cannot tell you.

ObservedCatalogComputedReconstructedIllustrativeUndocumented

Position Catalog

Sky position and distance

Alpha Centauri is placed at J2000 RA 14.7 h, Dec -60.8° at 4.4 light-years (spectral class G2V + K1V).

SourceBundled star record; the live star field uses HYG v4.2

EpochJ2000

MethodThe live star field draws the same star from the HYG v4.2 catalog (Hipparcos, Yale BSC, Gliese) with proper motion applied to the simulation date.

LimitThe bundled coordinates carry no recorded retrieval; the HYG catalog behind the star field is the documented source for the same star.

Description Undocumented

Description and facts

The short description and the fact list are written by the Space Time authors for orientation. They are not quoted from a catalog field and carry no citation of their own.

SourceSpace Time editorial text

LimitBackground reading is linked under Further reading; it is not the source of the displayed numbers.

What is not measured

Nothing on this page is a reconstruction or a schematic; every record above is observed, catalogued or computed.

Not yet documented

Physical data: no record. Space Time does not claim a source for this aspect.
Appearance: no record. Space Time does not claim a source for this aspect.
Description: Background reading is linked under Further reading; it is not the source of the displayed numbers.

Dataset freshness

Snapshots this page depends on, read from the generated manifests at request time.
Dataset	Last refreshed	Horizon	Automated
Nearest Gaia DR3 sources ESA Gaia DR3	no snapshot date	Epoch 2016.0 astrometry with proper motion and covariance for parallax > 40 mas	No, refreshed by hand scripts/build-gaia-nearby

Sources cited

Bundled star record; the live star field uses HYG v4.2
Space Time editorial text