Centaurus
What is Centaurus?
Constellations· Southern autumn–winter · the two Pointers to the Southern Cross. The centaur. Alpha Centauri, the Sun's nearest stellar neighbour, and Hadar are the Pointers to the Southern Cross. The constellation also holds Omega Centauri, the brightest globular cluster, and the radio galaxy Centaurus A. From Korea its lower half stays below the horizon.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where Centaurus is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=con:Centaurus — location and time set automatically, no login.
Stars of the figure
| Star | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| Alpha Centauri | -0.3 |
| Hadar | 0.6 |
| Menkent | 2.1 |
| Eta Centauri | 2.3 |
| Zeta Centauri | 2.5 |
| Delta Centauri | 2.6 |
| Iota Centauri | 2.8 |
| Lambda Centauri | 3.1 |
The 8 brightest of the 11 stars used in the figure (10 lines). Lower magnitude means brighter.
Deep-sky objects near this constellation
Constellation basics
| Season | April–July from the south; only its northern half clears the horizon from Korea |
|---|---|
| Brightest star | Alpha Centauri (−0.3, third-brightest star) |
| How to find | the two bright Pointers east of Crux |
| Area rank | 9th of 88 |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Frequently asked
- When can I see Centaurus?
- April–July from the south; only its northern half clears the horizon from Korea.
- How do I find Centaurus?
- the two bright Pointers east of Crux.
- What is the brightest star in Centaurus?
- Alpha Centauri, magnitude -0.3.
- Where is Centaurus in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
Proxima b — a planet at the nearest star
In August 2016 a planet was found at Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. Proxima b has at least 1.1 Earth masses and circles the star every 11.2 days, and because the star is a dim red dwarf that close orbit falls in the temperature range where liquid water could exist. The detection came from 16 years of radial-velocity data at the European Southern Observatory, in which a wobble of 1.4 m/s was found.
At 4.2 light-years the journey would take tens of thousands of years with today's rockets, but a planet at the nearest star gave interstellar proposals a concrete target. Proxima is a star given to strong flares, however, and whether the planet's surface can keep an atmosphere is unconfirmed. Centaurus keeps an 11th-magnitude star, invisible to the eye, beside the bright Alpha Centauri, and that star is the first specimen of a neighbouring planetary system.
The constellation in depth
Centaurus is Chiron, the wise centaur. Wounded by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows and condemned to endless pain, he gave up his immortality, and Zeus set him among the stars. The Southern Cross lies at his feet — it was part of the centaur until it was split off in the seventeenth century. It is one of the largest constellations and was fully visible from Greece in antiquity, before precession carried it south.
Alpha Centauri is a triple system 4.37 light-years away whose red-dwarf member, Proxima, is the closest star to the Sun. Omega Centauri, with ten million stars, is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way and looks like a fuzzy star to the naked eye. Centaurus A, an active galaxy 12 million light-years off, blazes in radio and X-rays from the jets of its central black hole.
On southern autumn evenings two bright stars side by side in the south are Alpha Centauri and Hadar, with the Southern Cross just west of them. From Seoul (latitude 37.5° N) Alpha Centauri never rises, but the northern half of the figure and Omega Centauri hang low in the south on spring nights. Switch the Sky view's location to Sydney to see the whole centaur.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.