Alpha Centauri (a Cen), also known as
Rigil Kent (the "Centaur's Foot") or
Toliman, is the
closest star system to the
Solar System at . It consists of three stars: the pair Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B and a small and faint
red dwarf, Alpha Centauri C, better known as
Proxima Centauri, that may be gravitationally bound to the other two. (
Beta Centauri, or ß Centauri, should not be confused with Alpha Centauri B, and is a separate, trinary, system of its own.) To the unaided eye, the two main components appear as a single object of an apparent
visual magnitude of -0.27, forming the brightest
star in the southern
constellation Centaurus and the
third-brightest star in the night sky, only outshone by
Sirius and
Canopus.