American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics

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The Composition and Evolutionary Status of Proxima Centauri

Received: 07 January 2017    Accepted: 21 January 2017    Published: 22 February 2017
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Abstract

A suite of stellar evolution models has been used to estimate the mass and metallicity of Proxima Centauri (GJ 551, HIP 70890, V645 Cen). It is found that the observations are best described by an M ≈ 0.12 M star with a heavy element mass fraction in the range 0.004 < Z < 0.01 (or equivalently, a metallicity of -0.5 < [Fe/H] < -0.3). The derived metallicity of Proxima is distinctly at odds with that established for α Cen A and αCen B. It is argued that both the observational data as well as the evolutionary models for Proxima Centauri are consistent with an age of some 7 to 8 Gyr and that its (presently derived) physical characteristics are inconsistent with an in situ or coevally origin with the α Cen AB binary.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11
Published in American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2017)
Page(s) 1-5
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Proxima Centauri, α Cen A, α Cen B, Stellar Evolution, Metallicity

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Author Information
  • Campion College, The University of Regina, SK, Canada; Department of Physics, The University of Regina, SK, Canada

  • Campion College, The University of Regina, SK, Canada

  • Department of Physics, The University of Regina, SK, Canada

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    Martin Beech, Corey McCowan, Lowell Peltier. (2017). The Composition and Evolutionary Status of Proxima Centauri. American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 5(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11

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    ACS Style

    Martin Beech; Corey McCowan; Lowell Peltier. The Composition and Evolutionary Status of Proxima Centauri. Am. J. Astron. Astrophys. 2017, 5(1), 1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11

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    AMA Style

    Martin Beech, Corey McCowan, Lowell Peltier. The Composition and Evolutionary Status of Proxima Centauri. Am J Astron Astrophys. 2017;5(1):1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11,
      author = {Martin Beech and Corey McCowan and Lowell Peltier},
      title = {The Composition and Evolutionary Status of Proxima Centauri},
      journal = {American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics},
      volume = {5},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-5},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaa.20170501.11},
      abstract = {A suite of stellar evolution models has been used to estimate the mass and metallicity of Proxima Centauri (GJ 551, HIP 70890, V645 Cen). It is found that the observations are best described by an M ≈ 0.12 M⊙ star with a heavy element mass fraction in the range 0.004 in situ or coevally origin with the α Cen AB binary.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    AU  - Lowell Peltier
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    AB  - A suite of stellar evolution models has been used to estimate the mass and metallicity of Proxima Centauri (GJ 551, HIP 70890, V645 Cen). It is found that the observations are best described by an M ≈ 0.12 M⊙ star with a heavy element mass fraction in the range 0.004 in situ or coevally origin with the α Cen AB binary.
    VL  - 5
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