CentauriThe Travelers
Alpha Centauri is the nearest star system to the Sun, and Proxima b is a confirmed planet in its habitable zone. Because of that proximity it has been humanity's favourite imagined neighbour in fiction for a century. The Centauri here is a speculative archetype, not a reported being.
At a glance
- Home system
- Alpha Centauri
- Avg. height
- 5′7″ – 7′3″
- Appearance
- Human-like, varied, hairless
- Reported lifespan
- 300 – 700 years (lore)
- Social structure
- Described as mobile crews
- Technology
- Described as interstellar-capable
- Primary traits
- Adaptive, exploratory, pragmatic
- Relationship to Earth
- Described as neutral to friendly
Physical profile
The Centauri of speculation is human-like, hairless, with varied skin tones and practical dress: the least exotic type in the archive, because the tradition that produced it is fiction and speculation about our nearest neighbours rather than witness lore. Renderings emphasise adaptability over any single distinctive feature.
Reported origin
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to the Sun, a triple system 4.2 to 4.4 light-years away: the Sun-like pair Alpha Centauri A and B, and the red dwarf Proxima Centauri. In 2016 astronomers confirmed Proxima b, a roughly Earth-mass planet in Proxima's habitable zone, and further candidates have followed. The system is the first target of every serious interstellar-probe proposal, including Breakthrough Starshot.
Culture
Portrayed as exploratory, mobile and pragmatic: a spacefaring people imagined by writers who assumed the nearest star would be the first to be visited or to visit.
Technology
Interstellar-capable by definition; otherwise unspecified.
Craft
Standard science-fiction vessels; no witness tradition.
Communication
Spoken in fiction; not otherwise described.
Earth encounters
There are no witness cases of note. Alpha Centauri has been the default destination of interstellar fiction for a century, from the pulps through Avatar's Pandora and the colony ships of countless novels, and the Centauri here stands for that tradition.
Lore & history
This is the one entry in the archive whose home system is a genuine candidate for habitable worlds. XenoAtlas lists the Centauri as speculative and fictional, and as a reminder that the real search for life next door is under way.
Breakthrough Starshot, announced in 2016, proposes sending gram-scale probes to Alpha Centauri at a fifth of light speed. If it flies, the first images of another star system's planets would arrive within a human lifetime, and the Centauri of fiction would meet the Centauri of data.
Source notes
- Proxima Centauri b · encyclopedic summary
- Elizabeth Klarer, Beyond the Light Barrier (1980) · contactee literatureFind on Amazon
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XenoAtlas documents extraterrestrial concepts appearing in mythology, contactee literature, popular culture, speculative accounts, and related sources. Inclusion does not constitute scientific verification.
Related species
See every type in the Types of Aliens guide.