Beta Centauri
Beta Centauri (β Centauri, β Cen, Agena, or Hadar), is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus.
The system's combined apparent visual magnitude of 0.61 makes it the second-brightest star in Centaurus and one of the brightest stars in the night sky.[1] According to parallax measurements from the astrometric Hipparcos satellite, the distance to this system is about 390 ± 20 light-years (120 ± 6 parsecs).
Beta Centauri is well known in the Southern Hemisphere. A line made from Alpha Centauri, through Beta Centauri leads to within a few degrees of Gacrux, the star at the top of the Southern Cross. Using Gacrux, a navigator can draw a line with Acrux at the bottom to find South.[2]
Beta Centauri Media
Size and color comparison of the Beta Centauri stars relative to the Sun.
A light curve for Beta Centauri, plotted from TESS data.
