<Tr> <Td> ARICNS </Td> <Td> data </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia </Td> <Td> data </Td> </Tr> <P> Alpha Centauri (α Centauri, abbreviated Alf Cen or α Cen) is the star system closest to the Solar System, being 4.37 light - years (1.34 pc) from the Sun . It consists of three stars: Alpha Centauri A (also named Rigil Kentaurus) and Alpha Centauri B (also named Toliman), which form the binary star Alpha Centauri AB, and a small and faint red dwarf, Alpha Centauri C (also named Proxima Centauri). To the unaided eye, the two main components appear as a single point of light with an apparent magnitude of − 0.27, forming the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus and is the third - brightest star in the night sky, outshone only by Sirius and Canopus . </P> <P> Alpha Centauri A has 1.1 times the mass and 1.519 times the luminosity of the Sun, while Alpha Centauri B is smaller and cooler, at 0.907 times the Sun's mass and 0.445 times its luminosity . The pair orbit about a common centre with an orbital period of 79.91 years . The elliptical orbits have a marked eccentricity, so that the distance between them varies from nearly that between Pluto and the Sun (35.6 astronomical units), to that between Saturn and the Sun (11.2 AU). </P>

What is the nearest solar system to earth