3 Centauri is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus, located approximately 300 light years from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued star with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 4.32. As of 2017, the two visible components had an angular separation of 7.851″ along a position angle of 106°. The system has the Bayer designation k Centauri; 3 Centauri is the Flamsteed designation. It was a suspected eclipsing binary with a variable star designation V983 Centauri, however the AAVSO website lists it as non-variable, formerly suspected to be variable.