What is the second closest star to Earth? And are there planets orbiting it?

Answer 1

If you regard the 3 Alpha Centauru stars as one system, the second nearest is Barnard's Star a faint red dwarf. And there are two others further away than Barnard's Star but nearer than Sirius A and B, Sirius is simply the best-known star syatem that lies beyond Alpha Centauri but not the next nearest.

There 202 known planets orbiting other stars. 20 of these stars have more than one known planet. The most recently discovered such system is HD 69830, a rather inconspicuous nearby star slightly less massive than the Sun. Located 41 light-years away towards the constellation of Puppis (the Stern), it is, with a visual magnitude of 5.95, just visible with the unaided eye. It has 3 Neptune-sized planets, the outermost of which is the first known Neptune-mass planet to reside in the habitable zone.

Here are the 20 multi-planet stars with distances in light years and Apparent Magnitudes

Upsilon Andromedae A (3 planets) 43.9 light years Magnitude 4.09
HD 12661 (2 planets) 121,2 ly Mag 7,44
HIP 14810 (2 planets) ??
HD 37124 (3 planets) 108,3 ly Mag 7.68
HD 38529 (2 planets) 138 ly Mag 5.94
HD 69830 (3 planets) 41 ly Mag 5.95
HD 73526 (2 planets) 323 ly Mag 9
HD 74156 (2 planets) 210.6 ly Mag 7,62
55 Cancri A (4 planets) 41 ly Mag 5.95
HD 82943 (2 planets) 89.5 ly Mag 6.54
47 Ursae Majoris (2 planets) 45.9 ly Mag 5.03
HD 108874 (2 planets) 223.4 ly Mag 8.76
HD 128311 (2 planets) 54.1 ly Mag 7.48
Mu Arae (3 planets) 49,8 ly Mag 5.12
HD 168443 (2 planets) 123.5 ly Mag 6.92
HD 169830 (2 planets) 118.5 ly Mag 5,91
Gliese 777 A (2 planets) 51.8 ly Mag 5.71
HD 202206 (2 planets) 151.1 ly Mag 8.1
Gliese 876 (3 planets) 15.34 ly Mag 10.2
HD 217107 (2 planets) 64.3 ly Mag 6.17

The nearest of these is Gliese 876 at 15.34 ly

List of Nearest Stars that are nearer than Gliese 876 and distances in light years

Proxima Centauri 4.22
Alpha Centauri A 4.36
Alpha Centauri B 4,36
Barnard's Star 5.96
Wolf 359 (CN Leonis) 7.78
Lalande 21185 8.29
Sirius A 8.58
Sirius B 8.58
Luyten 726-8 A 8.72
Luyten 726-8 B 8.72
Ross 154 9.68
Ross 248 10.32
Epsilon Eridani 10.52
Lacaille 9352 10.74
Ross 128 10.91
EZ Aquarii 11.26
Gl 866 B 11.26
Gl 866 C 11.26
Procyon A 11.40
Procyon B 11.40
61 Cygni A 11.40
61 Cygni B 11.40
Struve 2398 A 11.52
Struve 2398 B 11.52
Groombridge 34 Gl 15 A 11.62
Groombridge 34 Gl 15 B 11.62
Epsilon Indi 11.82
DX Cancri 11.82
Tau Ceti 11.88
GJ 1061 11.92
YZ Ceti 12.13
Luyten's Star 12.36
Teegarden's star 12.46
SCR 1845-6357 12.57
Kapteyn's Star 12.77
Lacaille 8760 12.86
Kruger 60 A 13.14
Kruger 60 B 13.14
Ross 614 13.34
Gl 234 B 13.34
Van Maanen's Star 14.06
Gl 1 14.22
Wolf 424 A 14.30
Wolf 424 B 14,30
TZ Arietis 14.51
Gl 687 14.79
LHS 292 14.81
Gl 674 14.81
GJ 1245 A 14.81
GJ 1245 B 14.81
GJ 1245 C 14.81
GJ 440 15.06
GJ 1002 15.31

So the questions is: which is the nearest star with planets? i.e. do any of these 53 stars have planets? And the answer lies in comparing the list of 148 Single Planet star systems in the link below with this list.

If they are all planetless than Gliese 876 is the nearest star with planets.

LATER EDIT

Epsilon Erdani, 13th in that list has a planet. Of the 148 stars with one known planet the nearest planet is Epsilon Eridani b which is 10.5 light years from earth.

Epsilon Eridani b is a extrasolar planet around Epsilon Eridani, announced in 2000 by a team led by Artie Hatzes. The discoverers gave its mass as 1.2 ± 0.33 times that of Jupiter, with a mean distance of 3.3 AU from the star. The object's orbit is highly eccentric.

Answer 2

If the closest star is our own sun(Sol) then the closest star would be Proxima Centauri, at a close 4.2 light years away. Proxima is a red dwarf star, just a tad bigger than Jupiter in diameter and just 12% the mass of our sun. Recent observations by Hubble in 1994 and subsequent observations indicate that there may be either a large Jupiter size planet or a small brown dwarf orbiting Proxima, but there is disagreement as to how large and it's orbital period. There is also a 25% chance that there may not be a companion due to observational errors.

Of course, there is also Alpha Centauri A and B....these stars along with Proxima make up the Alpha Centauri system. A and B orbit each other at the average distance that Uranus orbits the Sun. Although gas giants like Jupiter may be unlikely, terrestrial planets like earth may orbit either star.

The third star and second closest system is Barnaard's Star. This is also a red dwarf sun like Proxima. This star is remarkable in that it has the most observable proper motion of known stars. Many astronomers have hinted that this is a sign that the star may have companions, but to this date, that fact is still in dispute.

Answer 3

The answer is Proxima Centauri

The nearest star to us (besides our Sun, of course) is Proxima Centauri. It is actually the dimmest but the closest that is one of the triple star system Alpha Centauri. It is 4.2 light-years away. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. So the light from it takes 4.2 years to get here. Alpha Centauri is The Closest Star System. But it is too far south in the sky to be seen from the continental United States. It is a system of three stars. The dimmest of those, Alpha Centauri C, or Proxima Centauri, in orbit around the other two, is presently the closest to the sun.

Answer 4

Alpha and Proxima Centari is a binary star about 4.3 LY from us. These are the closest two I know of other than Sol.

Although, they have not yet been discovered, many astronomers believe Alpha Centari has the properties that are likely to generate terrestrial-like planets. From the source:

"Everything that we know about planet formation indicates that both Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B should be accompanied by terrestrial planet systems."

The problem with finding terrestrial planets outside our solar system is that they tend to be small and insignificant, like our Earth. So stellar perturbations, which are used to ID the presence of big planets, do not work.

Answer 5

Sometimes it's alpha Centauri and sometimes it's gamma Centauri (I think). They are a multiple star system about 4 light years from us. The 3rd closest is Sirius. It is a super-giant star that has a blackhole or something orbiting it. No planets here either.
Yo! astronomers, help me out here.

Answer 6

Scientists do not know for sure one way or the other if there are planets around the Alpha Centauri/Proxima three star system. There is however a solar system around Vega 26 light years away.

Answer 7

proxima centauri 4.2 light years away