Future and Past
Ross 248, currently at a distance of 10.3 light-years, has a radial velocity of −81 km/s. In about 31,000 years it may be the closest star to the Sun for several millennia, with a minimum distance of 0.927 parsecs (3.02 light-years) in 36,000 years. Gliese 445, currently at a distance of 17.6 light-years, has a radial velocity of −119 km/s. In about 40,000 years it will be the closest star for a period of several thousand years.
Known Hipparcos stars that have or will pass within 5.1 light-years of the Sun within ±2 million years:
| Star Name |
HIP# |
Minimum distance in parsecs |
Minimum distance in light-years |
Approach date in kiloyears |
Current distance in parsecs |
Current distance in light-years |
Stellar classification |
Mass in M☉ |
Current apparent magnitude |
Constellation |
Right ascension |
Declination |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gliese 710 | 89825 | 0.311 | 1.01 | 1447 | 19.3 | 62.9 | K7V | 0.4–0.6 | 9.6 | Serpens | 18h 19m 50.843s | −01° 56′ 18.98″ |
| Proxima Centauri | 70890 | 0.890 | 2.90 | 27.4 | 1.29 | 4.24 | M5Ve | 0.15 | 11.05 | Centaurus | 14h 29m 42.949s | −62° 40′ 46.14″ |
| Alpha Centauri A | 71683 | 0.910 | 2.97 | 28.4 | 1.338 | 4.36 | G2V | 1.100 | −0.01 | Centaurus | 14h 39m 36.495s | −60° 50′ 02.31″ |
| Alpha Centauri B | 71681 | 0.910 | 2.97 | 28.4 | 1.338 | 4.36 | K1V | 0.907 | 1.33 | Centaurus | 14h 39m 35.080s | −60° 50′ 13.76″ |
| AC+79 3888 | 57544 | 1.059 | 3.45 | 46.0 | 5.39 | 17.6 | M4 | 0.15? | 10.8 | Camelopardalis | 11h 47m 41.377s | +78° 41′ 28.18″ |
| Barnard's Star | 87937 | 1.148 | 3.74 | 9.8 | 1.834 | 5.98 | sdM4 | 0.144 | 9.54 | Ophiuchus | 17h 57m 48.498s | +04° 41′ 36.25″ |
| Zeta Leporis | 27288 | 1.275 | 4.16 | −861 | 21.5 | 70.2 | A2Vann | 2.0 | 3.55 | Lepus | 05h 46m 57.341s | −14° 49′ 19.02″ |
| Lalande 21185 | 54035 | 1.426 | 4.65 | 20.5 | 2.55 | 8.32 | M2V | 0.39 | 7.52 | Ursa Major | 11h 03m 20.194s | +35° 58′ 11.55″ |
| Gliese 208 | 26335 | 1.537 | 5.01 | −500 | 11.38 | 37.1 | K7 | 0.47 | 8.9 | Orion | 05h 36m 30.991s | +11° 19′ 40.32″ |
Read more about this topic: List Of Nearest Stars
Famous quotes containing the words future and and/or future:
“One merit in Carlyle, let the subject be what it may, is the freedom of prospect he allows, the entire absence of cant and dogma. He removes many cartloads of rubbish, and leaves open a broad highway. His writings are all unfenced on the side of the future and the possible. Though he does but inadvertently direct our eyes to the open heavens, nevertheless he lets us wander broadly underneath, and shows them to us reflected in innumerable pools and lakes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The future of humanity is uncertain, even in the most prosperous countries, and the quality of life deteriorates; and yet I believe that what is being discovered about the infinitely large and infinitely small is sufficient to absolve this end of the century and millennium. What a very few are acquiring in knowledge of the physical world will perhaps cause this period not to be judged as a pure return of barbarism.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)