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.

---

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

---

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.

---

Etymology

Origin of Centaurus

From Latin; see origin at centaur

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Centaurus Centauri

Scott Summers and Jeremy Blitzer are co-founders and shareholders of Centaurus Therapeutics.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2025

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

All facts considered, the odds favored a successful repulsion by Proxima Centaurus of a Terran military attack.

From The Variable Man by Dick, Philip K.

Among these are well-known exoplanets such as Proxima Centauri b, TRAPPIST-1f, and Kepler 186f, along with lesser-known candidates like TOI-715 b.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2026

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 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

Even if I traveled for trillions of miles, I’d barely reach Proxima Centauri, the next closest star after the sun.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas