Q&A: Normal Stars, White Dwarf Stars, and Star
Clusters
Q:
If Proxima Centauri was in the place or location of our Sun, how much
light would it provide to the Earth, let's say at noon? Would it be just
as bright at noon with Proxima Centauri as it would with our Sun, or
darker?
A:
Proxima
Centauri is much dimmer than our Sun, about 18,000 times dimmer.
Roughly speaking, if you placed Proxima Centauri at the position of the
Sun, you would just be able to make out the disk of the star. It would
be very dark here on Earth.
If you haven't already, please check out the Chandra webpages on
Proxima Centauri:
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/proxima/index.html
An overview of the Chandra mission and goals, Chandra's namesake, top 10 facts.
Classroom activities, printable materials, interactive games & more.
Overview of X-ray Astronomy and X-ray sources: black holes to galaxy clusters.
All Chandra images released to the public listed by date & by category
Current Chandra press releases, status reports, interviews & biographies.
A collection of multimedia, illustrations & animations, a glossary, FAQ & more.
A collection of illustrations, animations and video.
Chandra discoveries in an audio/video format.

