Threadly fun Astronomy facts #1

The closest star system to the Solar system is the Alpha Centauri system. It's a binary system of two Sun-like stars a bit over 4 light years away, and a third component - a small red dwarf, orbiting them at a significant distance.
The main duo of stars are Rigil Kentaurus, from Arabic "foot of the Centaur", who is slightly larger and more massive than Sol, and Toliman, from Arabic "two Ostriches", who is slightly smaller than Sol and also less massive. The third unit, Proxima Centauri (lit. "Closest of the Centaur") is a red dwarf that's really small but very angery and blasts it's surrounding planetary system, if applicable, with radiation making it sterile.
You can observe the main binary pair easily with the naked eye from more southern places on Earth, but it's not visible from any part of Europe. It's in the constellation Centaurus and it represents the foot of the Centaur in the connect-the-dots representation of the constellation in the shape of a Centaur.