NASA’s Hubble Captures Proxima Centauri, Our Nearest Neighbor [VIDEO]

Puzzled on looking at the glittering object in this image? Well the brightly shining object is our nearest star from our Solar system, a red dwarf Proxima Centauri that is thought to be located about 4.22 light years away.

The Hubble Space Telescope has released a new picture of the Alpha Centauri's sister star, Proxima Centauri- the closest stellar neighbour and the smallest of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system. The observations were made using Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).

Referred as a variable star Proxima Centauri lies in the constellation of Centaurus (The Cenntaur). The star is just an eighth of the mass of the sun. It is listed as a variable star since its brightness seen from Earth fluctuates from time to time. Though in galactic terms the star is located at a closest distance of just four light years, it is still not visible to the naked eye. The average luminosity of the star is very low. However, the star occasionally bursts bright stream of lights that makes it look a variable star and hence it also called as the 'flare star'.

"Proxima is what is known as a 'flare star', meaning that convection processes within the star's body make it prone to random and dramatic changes in brightness. The convection processes not only trigger brilliant bursts of starlight but, combined with other factors, mean that Proxima Centauri is in for a very long life. Astronomers predict that this star will remain middle-aged - or a "main sequence" star in astronomical terms - for another four trillion years, some 300 times the age of the current Universe," stated the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre.

Proxima's neighbor- the orange colored Alpha Centauri B- is slightly smaller and Alpha Centauri A and is smaller than the Sun. Alpha Centauri A and B are located close together while Proxima Centauri is located at a distance of 0.24 light years away from the two, reports Forbes.

Recently, astronomers found an earth-like planet in the star system. However, the planet is too hot to be able to support any life.