Alpha Centauri in fiction


As one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky, and the closest-known star system to the Sun, the Alpha Centauri system plays an important role in many fictional works of literature, popular culture, television, and film.
Alpha Centauri, a double star system with the binary designation Alpha Centauri AB, is the brightest visible object in the southern constellation Centaurus. Its component stars are Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. These stars are of spectral classes G2V and K1V, respectively; in the former case there is an obvious model and potential for planets capable of supporting complex biospheres, and in the latter, as it turns out, an even stronger probability of a stable habitable zone that is well suited for life. appears to be gravitationally bound to the AB system although at a considerable distance. The collection of three stars together is called Alpha Centauri AB-C.
Alpha Centauri is commonly referred to as Rigil Kentaurus, meaning foot of the centaur—compare Rigel in Orion—and also as Toliman, or the ostriches.

General uses of Alpha Centauri

Many stars may be referred to in fictional works for their metaphorical or mythological associations, or else as bright points of light in the sky of the Earth, but not as locations in space or the centers of planetary systems.
However, because Alpha Centauri is only visible from the remote south, it lacks the rich historical net of metaphorical, mythological, and sky-gazing associations, predating the scientific era, which have commonly propelled purely artistic references in the Western tradition to stars such as Aldebaran and Sirius that blaze brightly in northern skies. Although it makes plentiful appearances in science fiction, Alpha Centauri is rarely if ever used in a general sense.

Film and television