Two candidate exoplanets have been reported to be orbiting Toliman in recent years. The two planets, discovered in 20 and designated Proxima Centauri b and c, are the nearest exoplanets to Earth. The only star in the Alpha Centauri system with confirmed exoplanets is Proxima Centauri. Toliman does not have any confirmed planets. Image: Wikimedia Commons/RJHall (CC BY-SA 3.0) Planets This diagram illustrates, from left to right, the relative size of the Sun, α Centauri A, α Centauri B and Proxima Centauri. In 2019, the angular separation between them was 4.92 arcseconds and it increased to 5.49 arcseconds in 2020. Their apparent separation has been observed to vary from 1.7 to about 22 arcseconds. As they orbit, they come within 11.2 astronomical units (Earth-Sun distances) of each other and get as far apart as 35.6 astronomical units. The two stars orbit around a common centre of mass with a period of 79.91 years and an eccentricity of 0.5179. Image: ESA/NASA (CC BY 2.0)Īlpha Centauri AB appears as a single star to the unaided eye but can easily be resolved in small telescopes. This portrait of Alpha Centauri was produced by observations carried out at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. WFPC2 was Hubble’s most used instrument for the first 13 years of the space telescope’s life, being replaced in 2009 by Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) during Servicing Mission 4. The image was captured by the Wide-Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has given us this stunning view of the bright Alpha Centauri A (on the left) and Alpha Centauri B (on the right), shining like huge cosmic headlamps in the dark. In 2005, a flare was detected on the star. It takes 36 days to complete a rotation.Įven though its total luminosity is lesser than that of Rigil Kentaurus, Toliman is the brightest source of X-ray emissions in the Alpha Centauri system. Toliman is a slow spinner, with a projected rotational velocity of only 1.1 km/s. The star’s estimated age is about 5.3 billion years. With a surface temperature of 5,260 K, it shines with half of the Sun’s luminosity. The star is slightly smaller and less massive than the Sun, with a radius of 0.8632 solar radii and a mass of 0.907 solar masses. Toliman has the stellar classification K1V, indicating a main sequence star appearing orange in colour. It is the third brightest point of light in the sky outside the solar system, after Sirius and Canopus. The Alpha Centauri system lies at a distance of 4.37 light years from Earth. With an apparent magnitude of 1.33, Toliman is the third individual brightest star in Centaurus, after its close neighbour Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri A) and Hadar (Beta Centauri). It is one of the three components of the Alpha Centauri system, the nearest star system to the Sun. Toliman, Alpha Centauri B (α Cen B), is an orange main sequence star located in the constellation Centaurus.
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