DX Cancri

DX Cancri (DX Cnc) is a star of apparent magnitude +14.81 located in the constellation of Cancer northwest of the open cluster M44 (El Pesebre) and Asellus Australis (δ Cancri). Very faint, it is not visible to the naked eye, although it is one of the closest stars to the Sun since it is located at a distance of 11.8 ± 0.1 light years.

DX Cancri is a red dwarf of spectral class M6V or M6.5V. It has an effective temperature of 2840 K, making it one of the coldest red dwarfs in our environment. Its mass is between 9% and 10% of the mass of the Sun. Its diameter is barely 12% of the solar diameter, which is even smaller than that of Proxima Centauri or Wolf 359. Its projected rotation speed, 13 km/s, is among the fastest among stars in its class; Its rotation period is 0.4 days (~ 9.6 hours). It shines with a luminosity equivalent to 12 millionths of the solar luminosity.

DX Cancri is a blazing star, with intermittent changes in its brightness that increase up to five times its initial brightness. In 2006, a spectacular flare was observed from this star.

The closest neighbors to DX Cancri are the star system Procyon (α Canis Minoris), Luyten's star and GJ 1116, all of them at a distance between 5 and 5.7 light years.