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If Proxima Centauri is the next nearest star to Earth after the sun and it is 4.2 light years, does that mean every star we see in the night sky is farther away than 4.2 light years?

Answer 1

Levi Acosta

Yes.All stars you see are more distance than proxima.But real fact is that proxima iis not visible to naked eye..

It is roughly 11.0 in visual magnitude.

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Answer 2

Luca de

Not necessarily. The distances to stars vary greatly; some may be closer than 4.2 light-years, while others may be much farther away. Many stars that are visible in the night sky are in fact farther away than Proxima Centauri, but some may be closer.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.