Editing Alpha Centauri (section)

==== Predicted future changes ====
[[File:Near-stars-past-future-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Distances of the [[List of nearest stars|nearest stars]] from 20,000&nbsp;years ago until 80,000&nbsp;years in the future{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}|alt=Line graph with x-axis in thousands of years and y-axis in light years, the lines on the graph being labelled with the names of stars.]]
[[File:Alpha Cen proper motions.gif|thumb|upright=1.2|Animation showing motion of {{nobr|α Centauri}} through the sky. (The other stars are held fixed for didactic reasons.) "Oggi" means today; "anni" means years.|alt=Animated image of a sky chart of the southern celestial hemisphere labelled with years.]]

Based on the system's common proper motion and radial velocities, {{nobr|α Centauri}} will continue to change its position in the sky significantly and will gradually brighten. For example, in about 6,200&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]], α Centauri's true motion will cause an extremely rare [[First-magnitude star|first-magnitude]] stellar conjunction with [[Beta Centauri]], forming a brilliant optical [[double star]] in the southern sky.<ref name=AOST2/> It will then pass just north of the Southern Cross or [[Crux]], before moving northwest and up towards the present [[celestial equator]] and away from the [[galactic plane]]. By about 26,700&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]], in the present-day constellation of [[Hydra (constellation)|Hydra]], {{nobr|α Centauri}} will reach perihelion at {{cvt|0.90|pc|ly|lk=on|disp=or}} away,<ref name=Matthews>{{cite journal |last=Matthews |first= R.A.J. |year=1994|title=The close approach of stars in the Solar neighbourhood |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=35|pages=1–8|bibcode=1994QJRAS..35....1M}}</ref> though later calculations suggest that this will occur in 27,000 AD.<ref name=Bailer2015>{{cite journal |first=Bailer-Jones |last=C.A.L. |year=2015|title=Close encounters of the stellar kind |journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics |volume=575 |pages=A35–A48 |bibcode=2015A&A...575A..35B |arxiv=1412.3648 |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201425221 |s2cid=59039482}}</ref> At its nearest approach, α Centauri will attain a maximum [[apparent magnitude]] of −0.86, comparable to present-day magnitude of [[Canopus]], but it will still not surpass that of [[Sirius]], which will brighten incrementally over the next 60,000&nbsp;years, and will continue to be the brightest star as seen from Earth (other than the Sun) for the next 210,000&nbsp;years.<ref>{{cite magazine |title={{grey|[no title cited]}} |magazine=[[Sky and Telescope]] |date = April 1998 |page=60 |quote= Calculation based on computations from HIPPARCOS data. }}</ref>