Luyten 726-8

0.00006 / 0.00004 L ☉

Luyten 726-8 (also Gliese 65) is a double star system and with a distance of 8.7 light years one of the nearest neighbors of the sun. The component Luyten 726-8 B of the binary system is the flare star UV Ceti known that something brighter component Luyten 726-8 A is also a flare star (BL Ceti ), but with a lower typical brightness amplitude.

The binary star system was discovered in 1948 by Willem Jacob Luyten, after which it is named. The two components orbit each other with a period of 26.5 years at a distance varying between 2.1 AU at periastron and 8.8 AE in Apastron.

The next nearest star system Luyten 726-8 is the solar-type single star Tau Ceti at a distance of 3.2 light years.

According to a calculation by Robert AJ Mathews the binary star system Luyten 726-8 was until 32,000 years of erdnächste star. He was then replaced by Proxima Centauri Due to the different speeds of the stellar orbits.