SIMBAD references

We compare the first direct angular diameter measurements obtained on our closest stellar neighbour, αCentauri, to recent model diameters constrained by asteroseismic observations. Using the VINCI instrument installed at ESO's VLT Interferometer (VLTI), the angular diameters of the two main components of the system, αCenA and B, were measured with a relative precision of 0.2% and 0.6% respectively. Particular care has been taken in the calibration of these measurements, considering that VINCI is estimating the fringe visibility using a broadband K filter. We obtain uniform disk angular diameters for αCenA and B of θ_UD[A]=8.314±0.016mas and θ_UD[B]=5.856±0.027mas, and limb darkened angular diameters of θ_LD[A]=8.511±0.020mas and θ_LD[B]=6.001±0.034mas. Combining these values with the parallax from Soederhjelm (1999A&A...341..121S), we derive linear diameters of D[A]=1.224±0.003D_☉ and D[B]=0.863±0.005D_☉. These values are compatible with the masses published by Thevenin et al. (2002A&A...392L...9T) for both stars.