Centaurus

American  

[sen-tawr-uhs] / sɛnˈtɔr əs /

noun

• Centauri
  genitive

1. Astronomy. the Centaur, a southern constellation between Lupus and Vela, containing the triple-star system Alpha Centauri.

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Centaurus British  

/ sɛnˈtɔːrəs /

noun

1. Also called: The Centaur. a conspicuous extensive constellation in the S hemisphere, close to the Southern Cross, that contains two first magnitude stars, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, and the globular cluster Omega Centauri

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Centaurus Scientific  

/ sĕn-tôr′əs /

1. A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near the Southern Cross and Libra. Centaurus (the Centaur) contains Alpha Centauri, the star nearest Earth.

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Etymology

Origin of Centaurus

From Latin; see origin at centaur

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Centaurus Centauri

NGC 4945 is an active galaxy about 13 million light-years away in the southern constellation Centaurus.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 12, 2024

Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang collaborated to capture this image of The Running Chicken Nebula, IC 2944, which is located in the constellation of Centaurus, 6,000 light years away from the Earth.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2023

Using a telescope in Chile, the Spanish-led team spotted a cloud of debris in the same orbit as an already confirmed planet circling this star, 370 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2023

It took place at a location more than 8000 light-years away from our Earth in the direction of Alpha Centauri, between the constellations of Circinus and Centaurus.

From Space Scoop ● Mar. 21, 2023

Success in the war against Centaurus will depend on Icarus, not on the SRB machines.

From The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick

Imagine, he says, wanting to send a single paperclip to our neighboring star, Proxima Centauri.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

The signs were found in the star system Alpha Centauri by the powerful James Webb Space Telescope.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025

The brightest twinkle in this particular region is Lambda Centauri, a star visible to the naked eye that is much closer to us than the nebula itself.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2023

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

It is really a triple system, two stars revolving around each other, and a third, Proxima Centauri, orbiting the pair at a discreet distance.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan