[ChrisM]

I was inspired to find Proxima Centauri recently, as I had volunteered to make a presentation to the local astronomical society on the topic of our nearest stellar neighbours.

I took a 2 degree widefield picture and a narrow field 23 arc min picture too. Initially I couldn't find the star at all. The original 2 degree RAW image, taken through an f/5.2 refractor captured just shy of 20,000 stars, and the other photo captured about 4,500 stars. I finally tracked it down by finding a recognisable asterism on a published photo. Adding to my original confusion was the fact that the star had moved a considerable amount; it moves nearly 4 arc seconds per year.

Proxima Centauri is thought to orbit the Alpha Centauri A & B at a distance of around 13,000 AU, and is a small red dwarf flare star of magnitude 11, and about 1/7 the size of our Sun and 1/8 of its mass, giving it a specific gravity of about 56.

Wide field image 60 secs at ISO 1600
Narrow field image 60 secs at ISO 800
Both taken with a Nikon D7000.

Chris