Short answers, pulled from the story.
Robert Innes discovered Proxima Centauri in 1915 while working at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. He identified it as a faint star sharing proper motion with Alpha Centauri, leading to its naming as the nearest known star to our Sun.
Proxima Centauri holds about 12.5% of the Sun's mass and has an average density thirty-three times greater than ours. Its diameter measures roughly one-seventh that of the Sun yet generates surface gravity reaching 162 times Earth's value.
Three planets orbit Proxima Centauri including two confirmed bodies and one candidate object. Scientists announced confirmation of Proxima Centauri b on the 24th of August 2016 while independent work published in July 2025 verified the sub-Earth Proxima Centauri d.
Proxima Centauri sits only 4.25 light-years away from Earth making it the closest known star to our Solar System. Observations remain limited to southern latitudes below 27° north due to declination constraints.
The proximity window opens around 26,700 years from now when distance reaches approximately 3.11 light-years. After that point Proxima Centauri will recede beyond easy reach as part of the Alpha Centauri system.