The closest star system to the Sun is the Alpha Centauri system. Of the three stars in the system, the dimmest - called Proxima Centauri - is actually the nearest star.

The bright stars Alpha Centauri A and B form a close binary as they are separated by only 23 times the Earth- Sun distance - slightly greater than the distance between Uranus and the Sun. Alpha Centauri A, also known as Rigil Kentaurus, is the brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus and is the fourth brightest star in the night sky.

Light takes only 4.22 years to reach us from Proxima Centauri. This small red star, circled in the large above image, is so faint that it was only discovered in 1915 and is only visible through a telescope. Stars of all types from our Milky Way Galaxy are visible in the background. The Alpha Centauri system is primarily visible from Earth's Southern Hemisphere.

(Text adapted from APOD).

This animation was made with two frames, the first one being simply an enlargement of the image above, taken in 2007, while the second one obtained morphing the same image on the relative position of Proxima as recorded in this shot, taken from Namibia 4 years earlier.