Alpha Centauri is a constellation.
To the unaided eye , the two main components appear as a single point of light with an apparent visual magnitude of  0.27 , forming the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus and is the third-brightest star in the night sky , outshone only by Sirius and Canopus .	Centaurus	Centaurus	visual magnitude	visual magnitude	star	star	constellation	constellation	third-brightest	List of brightest stars	Sirius	Sirius	Canopus	Canopus
