Alpha Centauri in fiction

As one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky, and the closest known star system to the Sun, the Alpha Centauri system plays an important role in many fictional works of literature, popular culture, television, and film.

Alpha Centauri, a double star system with the binary designation Alpha Centauri AB, is the brightest visible object in the southern constellation Centaurus. Its component stars are Alpha Centauri A (the primary—somewhat larger and brighter than the Sun) and Alpha Centauri B (the secondary—slightly smaller and dimmer). These stars are of spectral classes G2V (as is the Sun) and K1V respectively; in the former case there is an obvious model and potential for planets capable of supporting complex biospheres, and in the latter, as it turns out, an even stronger probability of a stable habitable zone that is well suited for life.Alpha Centauri C (Proxima Centauri—a late-discovered red dwarf, and the closest known star to the Solar System) appears to be gravitationally bound to the AB system although at a considerable distance. The collection of three stars together is called Alpha Centauri AB-C.

Alpha Centauri is commonly referred to as Rigil Kentaurus (Arabic: رجل أقنطورس Rijl Qantūris), meaning foot of the centaur—compare Rigel in Orion—and also as Toliman (Arabic: الظلمان al-Zulmān), or the ostriches.

Many stars may be referred to in fictional works for their metaphorical or mythological associations, or else as bright points of light in the sky of the Earth, but not as locations in space or the centers of planetary systems.

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