Observation by Pete Lawrence: Proxima Centauri

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Observer

Pete Lawrence

Observed

2013 Aug 13 - 04:00

Uploaded

2016 Aug 26 - 21:33

Objects

Proxima-Centauri

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Constellation

Centaurus

Field centre

RA: 14^h24^m
Dec: -62°11'
Position angle: +104°51'

Field size

9° × 6°

Equipment

Modified Canon 40D DSLR fitted with 135mm ;ens at f/5.6 on an Astrotrac mount.

Exposure

60 secs

Location

Paranal, Chile

Target name

Proxima Centauri

Title

Proxima Centauri

About this image

In view of the current interest in the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting proxima centauri, and in view of the fact that this is the closest known star to us, I have selected Pete Lawrence's image of the starfield, which he captured on 2013-08-13 while on a visit to the VLT telescope complex at Paranal in Chile. Pete notes that, If you set off in your car to drive to the star (and you could get traction in space!), it would take you 40.2 million years to reach it at a steady speed of 70 mph. So, "in our neighbourhood" doesn't really mean that things are close by.

Files associated with this observation

wk35_16_Proxima_Centauri_lawrence_20160813_0.jpg (438.8 kB)

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