Proper motion of Proxima Centauri

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Hi All, I took an image of Proxima Centauri about a year ago with the intention of recording its proper motion over time. I have now taken another image and put together a GIF animation which shows the proper motion during 1 year. It is really quite fascinating how significant the change in position is .

Animation is available here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/134481220/original

I had to use the original image from a year ago as background for the animation, since this time I had a fog rolling in after 15 minutes of imaging so the image quality was no where near that of the first image. But I was clearly able to record Proxima's new position, so I simpy overlaid the new image onto the old one and then animated the old image to match exactly.

Image text:
The moving bright red star in the center of this animation is Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, at a distance of 4.2 light years in the constellation of Centaurus.
Proxima has a large proper motion and is moving 3.85 arcseconds per year across the sky, so images taken with a year in between easily shows the shifting position.
The image is a composite with luminance taken without IR block filter on 13/05/2010 and RGB data taken on 19/05/2010 with IR block filter to ensure correct colours of the stars. I then took another image around a year later on 04/05/2011 to record Proxima's new position in the sky and created the animation based on this data.
Proxima is a red dwarf star which emits much of its light in the infrared. It is thought that Proxima is a very distant companion to the Alpha Centauri A/B system, with an orbital period of half a million years or more.
Among the known stars, Proxima Centauri has been the closest star to the Sun for about 32,000 years and will be so for about another 33,000 years, after which the closest star to the Sun will be Ross 248. Proxima is presently approaching at a rate of 21.7 km/s and will make its closest approach to the Sun, coming within a distance of 3.11 light years, in approximately 26,700 years.
As seen from Proxima Centauri, the Sun would appear as a bright, 0.4 magnitude star in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
Proxima Centauri is often suggested as a possible first destination for interstellar travel. Nuclear pulse propulsion or other exotic technologies would be needed to keep the travel time within about a century. If current propulsion technology were used, a voyage would take thousands of years and would likely require a ship large enough to carry an entire population that could be used for colonization of a planet.

Hope you enjoy, I had fun doing this little project and hope to continue imaging this star in the coming years.

Comments and critique is welcome as always.

Regards,
Rolf

[astroron (Ron)]

Pretty Cool Rolf
It is amazing that there is so much movement in one year.
Thanks for the image and information
Cheers

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Excellent stuff Rolf, just the kind of thing i want to do when i get a decent kit.

Thanks for the view.

[CometGuy]

Very interesting Rolf, a reminder that the sky is not quite as static as we think!


Terry

[h0ughy (David)]

how cool is that - great work

[John Hothersall]

Thats very informative, imaged over several years this will be stunning.

John.

[allan gould]

That is a great series of images and animation, Rolf. Thanks for sharing.

[M54 (Molly)]

That's truly amazing Rolf.
Even though I know the stars have a proper motion, it's a revelation to see it happening.
Thanks for that.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by astroron

Pretty Cool Rolf
It is amazing that there is so much movement in one year.
Thanks for the image and information
Cheers

Thank you Ron, yeah it's a very speedy star indeed!

Originally Posted by mswhin63

Excellent stuff Rolf, just the kind of thing i want to do when i get a decent kit.

Thanks for the view.

Thanks Malcolm, it was definitely good fun to image it.

Originally Posted by CometGuy

Very interesting Rolf, a reminder that the sky is not quite as static as we think!


Terry

Thanks Terry, yes it is anything but static
Alpha Centauri itself also has a rather large proper motion, but it's not as easy to see against the background stars due to the massive glare.

Originally Posted by h0ughy

how cool is that - great work

Thank you David

Originally Posted by John Hothersall

Thats very informative, imaged over several years this will be stunning.

John.

Thanks John, yes I intend to keep an eye on it in the future. It'll be quite a feast to see what the animation looks like after 10 years or so

Originally Posted by allan gould

That is a great series of images and animation, Rolf. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you Allan, glad you liked it

Originally Posted by M54

That's truly amazing Rolf.
Even though I know the stars have a proper motion, it's a revelation to see it happening.
Thanks for that.

Thanks Molly, yes we often don't really realise they move but there are quite a few that are fast enough to notice in a relatively short time.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Haha!.. Love it!! Very cool indeed. An eye opener. DO NOT Polar align on this fellow

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Very cool Rolf!! You don't see stars moving very often!!

Cheers, Marcus

[Octane (Humayun)]

It's images like this that really blow me away.

Awesome, as usual, Rolf.

H

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

Thats a blinder. I love seeing actual science happening! Keep it up

Brendan

[Hagar (Doug)]

Fantastic Rolf, This much movement must bcause some stacking / combining problems for automated software.
I can't believe how far it actually moves.

[iceman (Mike)]

Excellent work Rolf, I enjoy all of your posts.

[Terry B]

Very well done.
I did a similar thing in the past (see http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...347#post456347 ) but your pics are much nicer than mine.
Well done.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Terry, I remember your effort all that time ago, and, I think I remember saying the same thing -- awesome.

H

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yes, very Cool Rolf, I sent it around here at work!

Would be interesting to see a sequence of say weekly or monthly images and watch for any effects of parallax shift too.

Great stuff mate.

Mike

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Haha!.. Love it!! Very cool indeed. An eye opener. DO NOT Polar align on this fellow

Thanks Marc, yes better not align on this one!

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Very cool Rolf!! You don't see stars moving very often!!

Cheers, Marcus

Thank you Marcus It's easy to forget that the sky is not as static as we may think.

Originally Posted by Octane

It's images like this that really blow me away.

Awesome, as usual, Rolf.

H

Thank you H, glad you enjoyed it

Originally Posted by bmitchell82

Thats a blinder. I love seeing actual science happening! Keep it up

Brendan

Thanks Brendan, yes it is great to see it unfold right before our eyes. I'm going to keep an eye on this one in the coming years.

Originally Posted by Hagar

Fantastic Rolf, This much movement must bcause some stacking / combining problems for automated software.
I can't believe how far it actually moves.

Thanks Doug It is surprisingly fast. Those 3.85 arcseconds pr. year can amount to quite a few pixels, depending on the focal length.

Originally Posted by iceman

Excellent work Rolf, I enjoy all of your posts.

Thanks very much Mike, glad you liked it

Originally Posted by Terry B

Very well done.
I did a similar thing in the past (see http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...347#post456347 ) but your pics are much nicer than mine.
Well done.

Thanks Terry, yeah I recall your animation, it is great. You have a much longer history with this fellow I hope to eventually collect a similar number of frames over the years.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yes, very Cool Rolf, I sent it around here at work!

Would be interesting to see a sequence of say weekly or monthly images and watch for any effects of parallax shift too.

Great stuff mate.

Mike

Thank you Mike I don't send it around at work, my colleagues would most likely just look odd at me
I have thought of trying to record the parallax too but it is only around 0.75 arcseconds - still that should just be noticeable in an animation I think. But the proper motion is by far the largest component.

[gregbradley]

A very fascinating image Rolf. Thanks for that.

Greg.