SkyViking
06-05-2011, 07:07 PM
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 :eyepop:.
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
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