Proxima Centauri is indeed quite distant from the main Alpha Centauri system it is associated with. It is part of the Alpha Centauri triple star system, which includes Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B as the main pair. Proxima Centauri, known as Alpha Centauri C, is approximately 4.24 light-years away from Earth, making it the closest known star to the Solar System.
Despite being part of the same system, Proxima Centauri orbits much farther out from Alpha Centauri A and B. The distance between Proxima Centauri and the central two stars can be as much as 13,000 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. Due to this significant distance, Proxima Centauri takes roughly 550,000 years to complete one orbit around the main pair.
Because of this separation and the vast scale of space, Proxima Centauri is relatively isolated from its companions, which explains why discussions around the distances within the Alpha Centauri system highlight the extended reach between these stellar neighbors.