Are the three stars in orbit around a central point? If so, I wonder if the closest might become one of the farther away ones during our lifetime.
Not that I’m going to change any plans or anything.
Couple of links. Alpha Centauri 3. Orbit animations. Nice little near star map, 3d and interactive, near the end of the AC3 page.
http://www.solstation.com/stars/alp-cent3.htm
http://www.solstation.com/orbits.htm
Right mouse click and hold and you can rotate the orbit animations.
Two are in proximity (including the one most like our Sun), the red dwarf is .14 lightyears further from Earth, and a bit more than that from the binary.
http://www.solstation.com/stars/alp-cent3.htm
[snip] Proxima Centauri (or Alpha Centauri C) is only 4.22 light-years (ly) away (14:29:42.95-62:40:46.14, ICRS 2000.0) but is too dim to be seen with the naked eye. The two bright stars, Alpha Centauri A and B (14:39:36.5-62:50:02.3 and 14:39:35.1-60:50:13.8, ICRS 2000.0), are a little farther away at about 4.36 ly. They form a close binary that is separated “on average” by only about 24 times the Earth-Sun distance — an average orbital distnace or semi-major axis of 23.7 astronomical units (AUs) — which is only slightly greater than the distance between Uranus and the Sun (”Sol”). [/snip]