The third brightest star in the sky, apparent magnitude −0.3, and the brightest in the southern constellation Centaurus. It is the closest star to the Sun at a distance of 1.35 parsecs 2.59 X 10¹³ mi (or 4.16 X 10¹³ km), and its light takes more than 4 years to reach the Earth. It has an unusually large proper motion across the sky of 3.7 seconds of arc per year.