Although it has a very low average luminosity, Proxima Centauri is a flare star that randomly undergoes dramatic increases in brightness because of magnetic activity.

The star's magnetic field is created by convection throughout the stellar body, and the resulting flare activity generates a total X-ray emission similar to that produced by the Sun.

The internal mixing of its fuel by convection through its core and Proxima's relatively low energy-production rate, mean that it will be a main-sequence star for another four trillion years.

[12][30] Because of its low mass, the interior of the star is completely convective,[31] causing energy to be transferred to the exterior by the physical movement of plasma rather than through radiative processes.

The magnetic energy from this field is released at the surface through stellar flares that briefly (as short as per ten seconds)[33] increase the overall luminosity of the star.

[35] Proxima Centauri's chromosphere is active, and its spectrum displays a strong emission line of singly ionized magnesium at a wavelength of 280 nm.

As the proportion of helium increases because of hydrogen fusion, the star will become smaller and hotter, gradually transforming into a so-called "blue dwarf".

When the hydrogen fuel is exhausted, Proxima Centauri will then evolve into a helium white dwarf (without passing through the red giant phase) and steadily lose any remaining heat energy.

[47] Based on a parallax of 768.0665±0.0499 mas, published in 2020 in Gaia Data Release 3, Proxima Centauri is 4.2465 light-years (1.3020 pc; 268,550 AU) from the Sun.

[5] From Proxima Centauri, the Sun would appear as a bright 0.4-magnitude star in the constellation Cassiopeia, similar to that of Achernar or Procyon from Earth.

In 2001, J. García-Sánchez et al. predicted that Proxima Centauri will make its closest approach to the Sun in approximately 26,700 years, coming within 3.11 ly (0.95 pc).

For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as Alpha Centauri C. Data from the Hipparcos satellite, combined with ground-based observations, were consistent with the hypothesis that the three stars are a gravitationally bound system.

Kervella et al. (2017) used high-precision radial velocity measurements to determine with a high degree of confidence that Proxima and Alpha Centauri are gravitationally bound.

[65] In 1998, an examination of Proxima Centauri using the Faint Object Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope appeared to show evidence of a companion orbiting at a distance of about 0.5 AU.

[67] Astrometric measurements at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory appear to rule out a Jupiter-sized planet with an orbital period of 2−12 years.

[68] In 2017, a team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array reported detecting a belt of cold dust orbiting Proxima Centauri at a range of 1−4 AU from the star.

They tentatively detected two additional features: a cold belt with a temperature of 10 K orbiting around 30 AU and a compact emission source about 1.2 arcseconds from the star.

[59][72][73] The first indications of the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b were found in 2013 by Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire from archival observation data.

[76] On 24 August 2016, the team of 31 scientists from all around the world,[77] led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé of Queen Mary University of London, confirmed the existence of Proxima Centauri b[78] through a peer-reviewed article published in Nature.

A transit-like signal appearing on 8 September 2016, was tentatively identified, using the Bright Star Survey Telescope at the Zhongshan Station in Antarctica.

[59] Proxima Centauri c is a candidate super-Earth or gas dwarf about 7 ME orbiting at roughly 1.5 astronomical units (220,000,000 km) every 1,900 days (5.2 yr).

Due to its large distance from Proxima Centauri, it is unlikely to be habitable, with a low equilibrium temperature of around 39 K.[82] The planet was first reported by Italian astrophysicist Mario Damasso and his colleagues in April 2019.

Such a planet would lie within the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, about 0.023–0.054 AU (3.4–8.1 million km) from the star, and would have an orbital period of 3.6–14 days.

[86] Proxima Centauri's flare outbursts could erode the atmosphere of any planet in its habitable zone, but the documentary's scientists thought that this obstacle could be overcome.

Any exoplanet in this star's habitable zone would likely be tidally locked, resulting in a relatively weak planetary magnetic moment, leading to strong atmospheric erosion by coronal mass ejections from Proxima Centauri.

[91] In 1915, the Scottish astronomer Robert Innes, director of the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa, discovered a star that had the same proper motion as Alpha Centauri.

[102][103] It has apparent visual magnitude 11, so a telescope with an aperture of at least 8 cm (3.1 in) is needed to observe it, even under ideal viewing conditions—under clear, dark skies with Proxima Centauri well above the horizon.

[109] If non-nuclear, conventional propulsion technologies are used, the flight of a spacecraft to Proxima Centauri and its planets would probably require thousands of years.

Proxima's actual galactic orbit means a slow-moving probe would have only several tens of thousands of years to catch the star at its closest approach, before it recedes out of reach.

[112] Project Breakthrough Starshot aims to reach the Alpha Centauri system within the first half of the 21st century, with microprobes travelling at 20% of the speed of light propelled by around 100 gigawatts of Earth-based lasers.