Proxima Centauri size and scale context

Proxima Centauri is the nearest known star to the Sun, just over four light-years away. ESA describes it as a flare star prone to dramatic brightening, yet because it burns fuel so slowly it may remain on the main sequence for another four trillion years. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

JupiterGas giant planet·140,000 km

Luhman 16 BT-type brown dwarf star·~152,000 km

Proxima CentauriM-type red dwarf star·215,000 km

Lalande 21185M-type red dwarf star·543,000 km

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Stars

Luhman 16 B

Luhman 16 B is the cooler T-type member of the nearest known brown-dwarf binary system. It is massive enough to glow from its own heat but too light to sustain ordinary hydrogen fusion, with patchy clouds that make its brightness change as it rotates.

Scale fact~152,000 kmdiameter

Object class: T-type brown dwarf star
Composition: Hydrogen, helium, and molecular clouds
Mass: ~29 Jupiter masses
Host: Luhman 16 binary system

Stars

Proxima Centauri

Scale fact215,000 kmdiameter

Object class: M-type red dwarf star
Mass: ~0.12 solar masses
Host: Alpha Centauri system
Estimated age: ~4.8 billion years
Composition: Hydrogen and helium
Temperature: ~3,000 K surface

Stars

Lalande 21185

Lalande 21185 is a nearby red dwarf in Ursa Major, also cataloged as Gliese 411 and HD 95735. It is the brightest red dwarf visible from the northern hemisphere, yet it is still too dim for unaided eyes and is better known through telescopes, surveys, and its nearby planetary system.

Scale fact543,000 kmdiameter

Object class: M-type red dwarf star
Composition: Hydrogen and helium
Mass: ~0.39 solar masses
Temperature: ~3,550 K surface