List of nearest stars

List of nearest stars

Animated 3D map of the nearest stars, centered on the Sun. 3D red green glasses are recommended to view this image correctly.

A radar map of all known stellar and substellar objects within 9 light years (ly), arranged clockwise in hours of right ascension, and marked by distance (▬) and position (◆). Distances are marked outward from the Sun (Sol), with concentric circles indicating the distance in one ly steps. Positions are marked inward from their distance markings, connected by lines according to their declinations (dotted when positive), representing the arcs of the declinations viewed edge-on. For within 12 ly see this map.

This list covers all known stars, white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, and sub-brown dwarfs/rogue planets within 20 light-years (6.13 parsecs) of the Sun. So far, 131 such objects have been found. Only 22 are bright enough to be visible without a telescope, for which the star's visible light needs to reach or exceed the dimmest brightness visible to the naked eye from Earth, which is typically around 6.5 apparent magnitude.

The known 131 objects are bound in 94 stellar systems. Of those, 103 are main sequence stars: 80 red dwarfs and 23 "typical" stars having greater mass. Additionally, astronomers have found 6 white dwarfs (stars that have exhausted all fusible hydrogen), 21 brown dwarfs, as well as 1 sub-brown dwarf, WISE 0855−0714 (possibly a rogue planet). The closest system is Alpha Centauri, with Proxima Centauri as the closest star in that system, at 4.2465 light-years from Earth. The brightest, most massive and most luminous object among those 131 is Sirius A, which is also the brightest star in Earth's night sky; its white dwarf companion Sirius B is the hottest object among them. The largest object within the 20 light-years is Procyon.

The Solar System, and the other stars/dwarfs listed here, are currently moving within (or near) the Local Interstellar Cloud, roughly 30 light-years (9.2 pc) across. The Local Interstellar Cloud is, in turn, contained inside the Local Bubble, a cavity in the interstellar medium about 300 light-years (92.0 pc) across. It contains Ursa Major and the Hyades star cluster, among others. The Local Bubble also contains the neighboring G-Cloud, which contains the stars Alpha Centauri and Altair. In the galactic context, the Local Bubble is a small part of the Orion Arm, which contains most stars that we can see without a telescope. The Orion Arm is one of the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.

Astrometrics

List of nearest stars

The easiest way to determine stellar distance to the Sun for objects at these distances is parallax, which measures how much stars appear to move against background objects over the course of Earth's orbit around the Sun. As a parsec (parallax-second) is defined by the distance of an object that would appear to move exactly one second of arc against background objects, stars less than 5 parsecs away will have measured parallaxes of over 0.2 arcseconds, or 200 milliarcseconds. Determining past and future positions relies on accurate astrometric measurements of their parallax and total proper motions (how far they move across the sky due to their actual velocity relative to the Sun), along with spectroscopically determined radial velocities (their speed directly towards or away from us, which combined with proper motion defines their true movement through the sky relative to the Sun). Both of these measurements are subject to increasing and significant errors over very long time spans, especially over the several thousand-year time spans it takes for stars to noticeably move relative to each other.

Based on results from the Gaia telescope's second data release from April 2018, an estimated 694 stars will approach the Solar System to less than 5 parsecs in the next 15 million years. Of these, 26 have a good probability to come within 1.0 parsec (3.3 light-years) and another 7 within 0.5 parsecs (1.6 light-years). This number is likely much higher, due to the sheer number of stars needed to be surveyed; a star approaching the Solar System 10 million years ago, moving at a typical Sun-relative 20–200 kilometers per second, would be 600–6,000 light-years from the Sun at present day, with millions of stars closer to the Sun. The closest encounter to the Sun so far predicted is the low-mass orange dwarf star Gliese 710 / HIP 89825 with roughly 60% the mass of the Sun. It is currently predicted to pass 0.1696±0.0065 ly (10635±500 au) from the Sun in 1.290±0.04 million years from the present, close enough to significantly disturb the Solar System's Oort cloud.

Stars and star systems within 12.5 ly.

Hipparcos luminous stars distances map within 100 pc (330 ly). The number in square brackets is height above or below the galactic plane. The distance between stars is colour coded: < 25 pc: green < 50 pc: cyan < 75 pc: yellow < 100 pc: orange

List

List of nearest stars

<table><thead><tr><th>#</th><th>Visible to the unaided eye (apparent magnitude of +6.5 or brighter)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>$</td><td>Luminous star (absolute magnitude of +8.5 or brighter)</td></tr><tr><td>‡</td><td>White dwarf</td></tr><tr><td>§</td><td>Brown dwarf</td></tr><tr><td>&</td><td>Sub-brown dwarf or rogue planet</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Nearest in constellation</td></tr></tbody></table>

The classes of the stars and brown dwarfs are shown in the color of their spectral types (these colors are derived from conventional names for the spectral types and do not necessarily represent the star's observed color). Many brown dwarfs are not listed by visual magnitude but are listed by near-infrared J band apparent magnitude due to how dim (and often invisible) they are in visible color bands (U, B or V). Absolute magnitude (with electromagnetic wave, 'light' band denoted in subscript) is a measurement at a 10-parsec distance across imaginary empty space devoid of all its sparse dust and gas. Some of the parallaxes and resultant distances are rough measurements.

Distant future and past encounters

List of nearest stars

Distances of the nearest stars from 20,000 years ago until 80,000 years in the future

Visualisation of the orbit of the Sun (yellow dot and white curve) around the Galactic Center (GC) in the last galactic year. The red dots correspond to the positions of the stars studied by the European Southern Observatory in a monitoring programme.

Over long periods of time, the slow independent motion of stars change in both relative position and in their distance from the observer. This can cause other currently distant stars to fall within a stated range, which may be readily calculated and predicted using accurate astrometric measurements of parallax and total proper motions, along with spectroscopically determined radial velocities. Although extrapolations can be made into the past or future, they are subject to increasingly significant cumulative errors over very long periods. Inaccuracies of these measured parameters make determining the true minimum distances of any encountering stars or brown dwarfs fairly difficult.

One of the first stars known to approach the Sun particularly close is Gliese 710. The star, whose mass is roughly half that of the Sun, is currently 62 light-years from the Solar System. It was first noticed in 1999 using data from the Hipparcos satellite, and was estimated to pass less than 1.3 light-years (0.40 pc) from the Sun in 1.4 million years. With the release of Gaia's observations of the star, it has since been refined to a much closer 0.178 light-years (0.055 pc), close enough to significantly disturb objects in the hypothetical Oort cloud, which is thought to extend 1.2 light-years (0.37 pc) from the Sun.

Gaia's third data release has provided updated values for many of the candidates in the table below.

<table><thead><tr><th>Star name</th><th>Minimum distance (light-years)</th><th>Date of approach in thousands of years</th><th>Current distance (light-years)</th><th>Stellar Classifi­cation</th><th>Mass in M☉</th><th>Current apparent magni­tude</th><th>Current Constel­lation</th><th>Current Right ascension</th><th>Current Declination</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Gliese 710</td><td>0.167±0.012</td><td>1296+24 −23</td><td>62.248±0.020</td><td>K7V</td><td>0.4–0.6</td><td>9.6</td><td>Serpens</td><td>18h 19m 50.843s</td><td>−01° 56′ 18.98″</td></tr><tr><td>HD 7977</td><td>0.478+0.104 −0.078</td><td>−2764+28 −29</td><td>246.74±0.60</td><td>G0V</td><td>~1.2</td><td>9.04</td><td>Cassiopeia</td><td>01h 20m 31.597s</td><td>+61° 52′ 57.08″</td></tr><tr><td>Scholz's Star and companion brown dwarf</td><td>0.82+0.37 −0.22</td><td>−78.5±0.7</td><td>22.2±0.2</td><td>A: M9V B: T5</td><td>A: 0.095 B: 0.063</td><td>18.3</td><td>Monoceros</td><td>07h 20m 03.20s</td><td>−08° 46′ 51.2″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0628+1845</td><td>1.61+0.28 −0.24</td><td>1720+150 −130</td><td>272.28±0.80</td><td>M2.5V</td><td>0.28</td><td>16.2</td><td>Gemini</td><td>06h 28m 11.593s</td><td>+18° 45′ 12.91″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0805+4624</td><td>1.610+0.099 −0.092</td><td>−363+13 −14</td><td>238.1±1.0</td><td>M3V</td><td>0.25</td><td>17.0</td><td>Lynx</td><td>08h 05m 29.038s</td><td>+46° 24′ 51.78″</td></tr><tr><td>CD-69 2001</td><td>1.616+0.070 −0.068</td><td>−1907±10</td><td>332.61±0.55</td><td>K4V</td><td>0.61</td><td>11.13</td><td>Indus</td><td>21h 40m 31.514s</td><td>−69° 25′ 14.58″</td></tr><tr><td>HD 49995</td><td>1.70+0.23 −0.20</td><td>−4034+94 −98</td><td>439.74±0.59</td><td>A: F3V B: M1V</td><td>A: 1.48 B: 0.49</td><td>8.78</td><td>Canis Major</td><td>06h 50m 20.810s</td><td>−18° 37′ 30.58″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0621-0101</td><td>1.71+0.46 −0.39</td><td>−3206+68 −66</td><td>428.8±3.1</td><td>G5V</td><td>0.96</td><td>11.9</td><td>Orion</td><td>06h 21m 34.807s</td><td>−01° 01′ 55.01″</td></tr><tr><td>LSPM J2146+3813</td><td>1.8557±0.0048</td><td>84.59±0.19</td><td>22.9858±0.0034</td><td>M5V</td><td>~0.15</td><td>10.82</td><td>Cygnus</td><td>21h 46m 22.285s</td><td>+38° 13′ 03.12″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0455+1144</td><td>1.94+0.16 −0.15</td><td>1702+58 −54</td><td>349.50±0.80</td><td>M0V</td><td>0.50</td><td>15.3</td><td>Orion</td><td>04h 55m 21.427s</td><td>+11° 44′ 41.25″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0734-0637</td><td>1.950±0.021</td><td>−554.6±3.3</td><td>130.66±0.12</td><td>M0V</td><td>0.50</td><td>12.9</td><td>Monoceros</td><td>07h 34m 39.097s</td><td>−06° 37′ 12.21″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1151-0313</td><td>1.98+0.20 −0.18</td><td>1017+60 −54</td><td>125.88±0.41</td><td>M3.5V</td><td>0.23</td><td>15.3</td><td>Virgo</td><td>11h 51m 37.434s</td><td>−03° 13′ 45.24″</td></tr><tr><td>UCAC4 076–006432</td><td>2.042+0.034 −0.033</td><td>−893.8+7.9 −8.0</td><td>212.41±0.15</td><td>mid K</td><td>~0.6</td><td>12.69</td><td>Mensa</td><td>06h 34m 29.385s</td><td>−74° 49′ 47.12″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0120+4739</td><td>2.25+0.17 −0.15</td><td>473+27 −25</td><td>237.56±0.66</td><td>M3.5V</td><td>0.25</td><td>16.5</td><td>Andromeda</td><td>01h 20m 04.561s</td><td>+47° 39′ 46.56″</td></tr><tr><td>TYC 6760–1510–1</td><td>2.46+0.19 −0.18</td><td>−1708+44 −47</td><td>102.89±0.16</td><td>M1.5V</td><td>0.58</td><td>11.5</td><td>Hydra</td><td>15h 00m 09.536s</td><td>−29° 05′ 27.67″</td></tr><tr><td>UCAC2 15719371</td><td>2.46±0.10</td><td>−4282+70 −73</td><td>280.80±0.26</td><td>K4V</td><td>0.66</td><td>12.58</td><td>Antlia</td><td>09h 44m 09.884s</td><td>−37° 45′ 31.09″</td></tr><tr><td>TYC 1662–1962–1</td><td>2.637+0.055 −0.054</td><td>−1536.6+9.0 −9.1</td><td>286.51±0.40</td><td>Early K</td><td>~0.8</td><td>10.95</td><td>Vulpecula</td><td>21h 14m 32.911s</td><td>+21° 53′ 32.76″</td></tr><tr><td>HD 179939</td><td>2.65±0.17</td><td>3020±25</td><td>334.32±0.88</td><td>A3V</td><td>1.7</td><td>7.23</td><td>Aquila</td><td>19h 14m 10.043s</td><td>+07° 45′ 50.72″</td></tr><tr><td>BD-21 1529</td><td>2.701+0.059 −0.058</td><td>−1660.1±6.3</td><td>368.48±0.56</td><td>G5V</td><td>~0.95</td><td>9.67</td><td>Canis Major</td><td>06h 37m 48.004s</td><td>−21° 22′ 21.94″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1310-1307</td><td>2.79+0.59 −0.47</td><td>−1520+150 −190</td><td>433.0±2.6</td><td>M2.5V</td><td>0.34</td><td>16.3</td><td>Virgo</td><td>13h 10m 30.804s</td><td>−13° 07′ 33.55″</td></tr><tr><td>UPM J1121-5549</td><td>2.803±0.020</td><td>−282.5+1.6 −1.7</td><td>72.498±0.029</td><td>M3V</td><td>0.29</td><td>13.5</td><td>Centaurus</td><td>11h 21m 18.136s</td><td>−55° 49′ 17.77″</td></tr><tr><td>UCAC4 464–006057</td><td>2.812+0.052 −0.051</td><td>932±11</td><td>101.570±0.086</td><td>Early M</td><td>~0.4</td><td>11.73</td><td>Taurus</td><td>04h 09m 02.050s</td><td>+02° 45′ 38.32″</td></tr><tr><td>UCAC4 213–008644</td><td>2.91+0.13 −0.12</td><td>−306+12 −13</td><td>80.987±0.048</td><td>M5.0</td><td>0.17</td><td>16.4</td><td>Puppis</td><td>06h 21m 54.714s</td><td>−47° 25′ 31.33″</td></tr><tr><td>GJ 3649</td><td>3.016±0.024</td><td>−520.4±3.1</td><td>54.435±0.023</td><td>M1</td><td>0.49</td><td>10.85</td><td>Leo</td><td>11h 12m 38.97s</td><td>+18° 56′ 05.4″</td></tr><tr><td>Ross 248</td><td>3.0446±0.0077</td><td>38.500±0.096</td><td>10.3057±0.0014</td><td>M6V</td><td>0.136</td><td>12.29</td><td>Andromeda</td><td>23h 41m 54.99s</td><td>+44° 10′ 40.8″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1921-1244</td><td>3.08+0.21 −0.19</td><td>−3490+120 −130</td><td>376.46±0.73</td><td>K6V</td><td>0.69</td><td>12.46</td><td>Sagittarius</td><td>19h 21m 58.124s</td><td>−12° 43′ 58.61″</td></tr><tr><td>Proxima Centauri</td><td>3.123±0.015</td><td>28.65±0.27</td><td>4.24646±0.00028</td><td>M5Ve</td><td>0.15</td><td>11.05</td><td>Centaurus</td><td>14h 29m 42.949s</td><td>−62° 40′ 46.14″</td></tr><tr><td>TYC 9387–2515–1</td><td>3.220+0.081 −0.079</td><td>−1509.1+8.6 −8.7</td><td>401.96±0.54</td><td>K1V</td><td>0.86</td><td>11.45</td><td>Mensa</td><td>06h 18m 54.643s</td><td>−80° 19′ 16.54″</td></tr><tr><td>Alpha Centauri AB</td><td>3.242±0.060</td><td>29.63+1.00 −0.98</td><td>4.321±0.024</td><td>A: G2V B: K1V</td><td>A: 1.100 B: 0.907</td><td>A: -0.01 B: +1.33</td><td>Centaurus</td><td>14h 39m 36.495s</td><td>−60° 50′ 02.31″</td></tr><tr><td>Gliese 445</td><td>3.3400±0.0051</td><td>46.341±0.065</td><td>17.1368±0.0017</td><td>M4</td><td>0.15?</td><td>10.8</td><td>Camelo­pardalis</td><td>11h 47m 41.377s</td><td>+78° 41′ 28.18″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1638-6355</td><td>3.37+0.29 −0.28</td><td>−1428+21 −22</td><td>468.5±4.2</td><td>K2V</td><td>0.82</td><td>12.44</td><td>Triangulum Australe</td><td>16h 38m 21.759s</td><td>−63° 55′ 13.16″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0542+3217</td><td>3.43+0.75 −0.71</td><td>5823+89 −87</td><td>884.6±2.4</td><td>A: G4V B: K0V</td><td>A: 1.01 B: 0.85</td><td>12.80</td><td>Auriga</td><td>05h 42m 38.349s</td><td>+32° 17′ 29.85″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0625-2408</td><td>3.700+0.082 −0.080</td><td>−1874±14</td><td>534.88±0.93</td><td>K/M</td><td>~0.5</td><td>12.91</td><td>Canis Major</td><td>06h 25m 42.744s</td><td>−24° 08′ 35.02″</td></tr><tr><td>Barnard's Star</td><td>3.7682±0.0031</td><td>11.735±0.013</td><td>5.96290±0.00044</td><td>sdM4</td><td>0.144</td><td>9.54</td><td>Ophiuchus</td><td>17h 57m 48.498s</td><td>+04° 41′ 36.25″</td></tr><tr><td>BD+05 1792</td><td>3.965±0.040</td><td>−962.7±3.0</td><td>239.73±0.33</td><td>G2V</td><td>1.07</td><td>8.58</td><td>Gemini</td><td>07h 48m 07.037s</td><td>+05° 27′ 22.51″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J2241-2759</td><td>4.05±0.16</td><td>−2810+37 −38</td><td>411.06±0.76</td><td>K7V</td><td>~0.5</td><td>12.28</td><td>Piscis Austrinus</td><td>22h 41m 50.996s</td><td>−27° 59′ 47.04″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1724-0522</td><td>4.15+0.26 −0.25</td><td>3058+54 −52</td><td>489.5±1.3</td><td>K0V</td><td>0.86</td><td>12.73</td><td>Ophiuchus</td><td>17h 24m 55.056s</td><td>−05° 22′ 11.45″</td></tr><tr><td>StKM 1–554</td><td>4.217+0.036 −0.035</td><td>−549.9+2.9 −3.0</td><td>151.97±0.19</td><td>M0V</td><td>0.65</td><td>12.17</td><td>Orion</td><td>05h 14m 01.871s</td><td>+05° 22′ 56.26″</td></tr><tr><td>GJ 3379</td><td>4.227±0.024</td><td>−157.43+0.93 −0.94</td><td>16.9861±0.0027</td><td>M3.5V</td><td>0.19</td><td>11.31</td><td>Orion</td><td>06h 00m 03.824s</td><td>+02° 42′ 22.97″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1936+3627</td><td>4.23+0.62 −0.57</td><td>3830+120 −110</td><td>671.6±3.4</td><td>G5.5V</td><td>0.95</td><td>12.2</td><td>Cygnus</td><td>19h 36m 57.294s</td><td>+36° 27′ 57.71″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J0710+5228</td><td>4.303±0.039</td><td>507.6+3.8 −3.7</td><td>90.949±0.050</td><td>M3V</td><td>0.33</td><td>12.52</td><td>Lynx</td><td>07h 10m 52.167s</td><td>+52° 28′ 18.49″</td></tr><tr><td>HD 146248</td><td>4.341+0.040 −0.039</td><td>−1141.5±3.7</td><td>334.87±0.47</td><td>G2/3IV</td><td>1.23</td><td>9.47</td><td>Triangulum Australe</td><td>16h 19m 27.875s</td><td>−64° 50′ 34.38″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1724+0355</td><td>4.37±0.12</td><td>1991+38 −37</td><td>254.99±0.26</td><td>G8V</td><td>0.85</td><td>12.54</td><td>Ophiuchus</td><td>17h 24m 34.633s</td><td>+03° 55′ 26.75″</td></tr><tr><td>StKM 1–1456</td><td>4.396±0.043</td><td>1240.2+6.9 −6.8</td><td>144.934±0.095</td><td>A: K5V B: M8V</td><td>A: 0.81 B: 0.09</td><td>10.58</td><td>Hercules</td><td>17h 17m 31.118s</td><td>+15° 34′ 55.35″</td></tr><tr><td>Zeta Leporis</td><td>4.43+0.33 −0.30</td><td>−878+42 −46</td><td>72.81±0.40</td><td>A2Vann</td><td>2.0</td><td>3.55</td><td>Lepus</td><td>05h 46m 57.341s</td><td>−14° 49′ 19.02″</td></tr><tr><td>Lalande 21185</td><td>4.6807±0.0055</td><td>21.973±0.033</td><td>8.30437±0.00068</td><td>M2V</td><td>0.39</td><td>7.52</td><td>Ursa Major</td><td>11h 03m 20.194s</td><td>+35° 58′ 11.55″</td></tr><tr><td>HD 68814</td><td>4.724+0.090 −0.089</td><td>−2242±13</td><td>259.85±0.30</td><td>G6V</td><td>0.98</td><td>9.57</td><td>Hydra</td><td>08h 13m 57.112s</td><td>−04° 03′ 12.56″</td></tr><tr><td>2MASS J1941-4602</td><td>4.814+0.050 −0.049</td><td>−456.5+4.1 −4.2</td><td>66.848±0.033</td><td>M4-M6</td><td>~0.15</td><td>12.4</td><td>Telescopium</td><td>19h 41m 53.18s</td><td>−46° 02′ 31.4″</td></tr></tbody></table>