[TML] Alpha Centauri and Star System Creation

[Timothy Little]

On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:07:25PM -0400, Jerry W Barrington wrote:
> It wouldn't really look much like a binary star like in Star Wars'
> Tattoine scenes.  At best, B would be less then 1/9 of the linear
> size of A.  More like a very bright planet.

Well, more like a smaller but still dazzling sun.  Although visually a
very small disk, it would still be bright enough to cause damage to
your retina if you looked directly at it.  During the phase of the
planet's orbit about A where it is between the stars, it would
illuminate the "night" side substantially brighter than typical indoor
lighting even at furthest distance.  In the rest of the orbit, it
would still be a tiny second sun in the daytime sky, albeit one that
hardly casts shadows and radiates no perceptible heat.

To a planet orbiting B, A would appear about three times brighter than
the above.


> Proxima is about 15,000 AU out.  Just another star really.

Yes.  It would not even be easy to see, at about magnitude 4.8.  One
of the dimmest visible stars, and wouldn't even be visible during the
"night" if the secondary sun is in the sky.


- Tim