Centaurus the Centaur is a constellation located in the Southern Hemisphere skies, being the 9th largest among the 88 constellations.
The constellation houses the three closest known stars to our sun, with Alpha Centauri being the nearest star, situated 4.3 light-years away and shining brightly at magnitude -0.27.
Other notable stars in Centaurus include Beta Centauri, also known as Hadar, which is a blue-white supergiant located 348 light-years away, as well as Menkent, or Theta Centauri, positioned 61 light-years away.
Deep-sky objects within Centaurus include Omega Centauri, a globular cluster, the Running Chicken cluster and gas cloud, and NGC 3918, known as the Blue Planetary, offering intriguing celestial sights for astronomers.