The two stars passed their periastron in 1920. During periastron, tidal distortions cause a periodic brightening of the system. The orbital distance ranges from 6.4 AU at periastron to 14.2 AU at apastron. The periastron (closest) distance is 1.96 AU and the apastron (farthest) distance is 3.12 AU. Proxima Centauri comes within of AB at periastron, and its apastron occurs at . At periastron, the distance is 0.237 AU and at apastron, the distance is 1.66 AU. At periastron, the distance is 1.28 AU, and at apastron, the distance is 3.30 AU.