At a distance of 4.24 light-years, it is the nearest known star, making it a primary target for future interstellar missions like Breakthrough Starshot.

Alpha Centauri A and B are sun-like stars that orbit each other closely, while Proxima is gravitationally bound to them but orbits much farther away.

Red dwarfs are the most common but smallest and coolest stars in the universe. Proxima only emits a tiny fraction of the visible light our sun produces.

Intense radiation from these sudden magnetic eruptions can easily blast away the atmospheric gases of nearby orbiting exoplanets like Proxima b.