✦ First charted by nathangabrielcarmona · 20720d ago
About Rigil Kentaurus
Rigil Kentaurus is an anomaly star. It lies about 4.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude -0.01 and has spectral type G2V.
One of the closest objects of its kind to the Sun — a first port of call for any interstellar mission we ever build.
How to see it
Look for Rigil Kentaurus in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude -0.01, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Rigil Kentaurus is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why Rigil Kentaurus is an anomaly star
Rigil Kentaurus scores 96 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the anomaly tier. Another 24 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 8 science badges — Star, Stellar next door (<10 ly), Brilliant (mag < 1), Binary star, Has a proper name, Sun-like G-type star, Main-sequence star and Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.