Alpha Centauri system

British

/ sɛnˈtɔːrɪ /

noun

Also called: Rigil Kent. a star system comprising the binary star Alpha Centauri A and B and Proxima Centauri (also called Alpha Centauri C ), which is 0.1 light years closer to the sun. Visual magnitude: 0.01 (A), 1.33 (B); spectral type: G2V (A); distance from earth: 4.3 light years See also Proxima

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The group became stranded on a distant planet after their ship, the Jupiter 2, went off course en route to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri system.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2023

She is unaffiliated with the study, but her work with her student Lily Zhao has placed the best-yet constraints on the planets that may or may not exist in the Alpha Centauri system.

From Scientific American • Feb. 10, 2021

And in fact the signal, if it is real, might be coming from someplace beyond the Alpha Centauri system.

From New York Times • Dec. 31, 2020

The only stars closer are the triplet stars of the Alpha Centauri system, which is mainly visible in the southern sky.

From Washington Post • Nov. 14, 2018

The complex interactions of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system would make the search for a low-mass companion there very difficult.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023