Re: What will happen to the Earth when Alpha Centuri 'dies'?

    The Alpha Centauri system is indeed made up of three stars, the closest about 26 trillion miles or 4.4 light years away from our solar system.  Alpha Centauri A, the largest of the three, is a yellow-orange G2 spectral star very much like our Sun.  As such its life cycle will be fairly similar to the Sun's.  Stars less than about 4 solar masses never reach sufficient temperatures in their old age to undergo the violent deaththrows of supernovae, so when any of the stars in the Alpha Centauri system go the Earth has little to worry about.
    Instead Alpha Centauri will become what is known as a "planetary nebula" (nothing to do with planets). It will slowly eject its envelope in a shell and a white dwarf remnant will remain in the center. After about 100,000 years, the shell should reach us, but by that time, it should be so dissipated that the effects on our Solar system will be negligible. So while the death of a star as close as Alpha Centauri won't kill you, the wait to find out surely will.