Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What is the parallax of Proxima Centauri?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Parallax
Calculating stellar distances.
The parallax of Proxima Centauri is 0.77 arc seconds.1
In astronomy, parallax is a geometric method used to determine the distance to celestial objects by measuring the apparent shift in a star's position against background stars as Earth orbits the Sun. Because Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our solar system, it exhibits one of the largest parallax angles observable.12