St Kilda in Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia — Oceania

Proxima Centauri

The nearest star to the Sun

— Solar System Trail —

Proxima Centauri Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Dean Barton-Ancliffe, September 29, 2026

1. Proxima Centauri Marker

Inscription. Proxima Centauri is the nearest known star to the Sun, at a distance of 4.2 light years or 40 trillion km. It is a low-mass, faint, red dwarf star and is much smaller and cooler than our Sun. It is also classified as a flare star, meaning that it randomly experiences periods of increased luminosity. This star was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes and is only visible through a telescope.

Proxima Centauri is 5 billion years old, the same age as the Sun. Small stars live much longer than large ones - so while the Sun will live for another 4 or 5 billion years, Proxima Centauri will continue to burn for another 4,000 billion years.

Proxima Centauri may be gravitationally bound to the Alpha Centauri star system, or may just be passing through. The two larger stars of the system, Alpha Centauri A and B are about the same size as the Sun and are in orbit around each other. Together Alpha Centauri A and B form the binary star which is the brighter of the two pointers to the Southern Cross.

The location of this model of Proxima Centauri is accurate to the scale of 1:1 billion, as the star would be 40,000km away. This distance

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

is equal to the polar circumference of planet Earth. So, in this model, to get to Proxima Centauri from the Sun you would need to travel around the Earth passing through the North and South Poles to arrive here.

< Sun 40,000 km

Erected by Planet Wheeler and City of Port Phillip. (Marker Number 0.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Exploration. In addition, it is included in the Melbourne Solar System Trail series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1915.

Location. 37° 52.337′ S, 144° 58.553′ E. Marker is in St Kilda, Victoria, in Port Phillip. It is at the intersection of Jacka Boulevard (Victoria Route 33) and Blessington Street, on the left when traveling north on Jacka Boulevard. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda VIC 3182, Australia. Touch for directions.

Regionally, it is in Oceania,

in Australasia,

in the Pacific Ocean,

in South Pacific,

on the Pacific Rim,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony.

Other nearby markers. At

Proxima Centauri Marker with the Sun and Marker in the background image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Dean Barton-Ancliffe, September 29, 2026

2. Proxima Centauri Marker with the Sun and Marker in the background

If this were to scale as per the rest of the Solar System model. Proxima Centauri would be 40,000km away

least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Sun (a few steps from this marker); Mercury (within shouting distance of this marker); Venus (about 120 meters away, measured in a direct line); Earth (about 150 meters away); Mars (about 240 meters away); Great Scenic Railway (approx. 0.6 kilometers away); Councillor Edward O'Donnell (approx. 0.6 kilometers away); Lieut. J.M. Bennett (approx. 0.6 kilometers away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in St Kilda.

Also see . . . Solar System Trail. Walks in Port Phillip

Navigate the solar system from the sun to the outer planets by following the bike and walking trail on the City of Port Phillip’s foreshore.

In 2008 artists and scientists constructed a model of our solar system to a scale of one to one billion between St Kilda and Port Melbourne. Instead of navigating 4.5 billion kilometres from the sun to Neptune, and 5.9 billion kilometres from the sun to Pluto, you only travel 4.5 kilometres and 5.9 kilometres.

The foreshore has always been a superb location to view the sun setting on the western horizon. Port Phillip Bay’s crescent shape is perfect
Paid Advertisement

for a model where the ‘sun’ can be viewed from every one of the nine model locations.

(Submitted on November 5, 2026, by Dean Barton-Ancliffe of Rowville, Victoria.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 6, 2026. It was originally submitted on November 5, 2026, by Dean Barton-Ancliffe of Rowville, Victoria. This page has been viewed 8 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on November 5, 2026, by Dean Barton-Ancliffe of Rowville, Victoria. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.