Animated 3D map of the closest stars to our Solar System (centre). The Earth's equatorial plane is the horizontal plane, and the blue shells mark five light years, with the outermost shell being 20 light years from the Sun. The model shows stars by type, starting with white dwarfs, which are too faint to be seen with the naked eye. The next type are A and F stars, which include the brightest naked eye star Sirius A (8.6 light years distant). Next are G stars, like the Sun, which include Alpha Centauri A, part of the nearest star system to the Sun. Redder K stars are next, followed by even cooler and redder M stars (red dwarfs), then brown dwarfs, which are stars too small to have ignited nuclear fusion at the core. There are some 130 stars within 20 light years of Earth. For an unlabelled version of this model, see K008/6529. |