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.
| Published in | American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Volume 5, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11 |
| 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. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Proxima Centauri, α Cen A, α Cen B, Stellar Evolution, Metallicity
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APA Style
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
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
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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Download@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://article.sciencepublishinggroup.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}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Composition and Evolutionary Status of Proxima Centauri AU - Martin Beech AU - Corey McCowan AU - Lowell Peltier Y1 - 2017/02/22 PY - 2017 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11 T2 - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics JF - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics JO - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2376-4686 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170501.11 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 IS - 1 ER -
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