Gordon unknown to most of us is a bit of an expert on on the stars!
While we were sitting around the campsite a wealth of star facts were revealed. And for fear of misquoting the great Starman of Megalong I have wikied the below information.
Speaking of Starman I feel it only fair to mention Spa-man! (and his wife Spa Woman!) while not in the spirit of the great Camp cook out - Stu and Di chose not to sleep under the Milky Way instead retiring to a well sprung luxury mattress with hot and cold running water nearby - but this sin may have been atoned, by the provision of the most spectacularly presented camp food ever!!! in the history of "Camp food" a delicate chocolatycreamyberry concoction served in prettypink noodle boxes!!!! Wow 11/10 for presentation Di!!!!
"Alpha Centauri" is the name given to what appears as a single star to the naked eye and the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. With the aid of a telescope, Alpha Centauri can be resolved into a binary star system in close orbit. This is known as the Alpha Centauri AB system, often abbreviated as α Centauri AB or α Cen AB.
"Alpha Centauri A (α Cen A) and Alpha Centauri B (α Cen B) are the individual stars of the binary system, usually defined to identify them as the different component of the binary α Cen AB. As viewed from Earth, there is likely an additional companion located 2.2° away from the AB star system, whose distance is much greater than the observed separation between stars A and B. This companion is Proxima Centauri, Proxima, or α Cen C. If it were bright enough to be seen without a telescope, Proxima Centauri would appear to the naked eye as a star separate from α Cen AB. Alpha Centauri AB and Proxima Centauri form a visual double star, and they are assumed to be gravitationally associated with each other. Direct evidence that Proxima Centauri has an elliptical orbit typical of binary stars has yet to be determined.[10]
Together all three components make a triple star system, referred to by double-star observers as the triple star (or multiple star), α Cen AB-C."
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