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Triple star system in the constellation Auriga From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
16 Aurigae is a triple star[12] system located 232 light years away from the Sun in the northern constellation of Auriga. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.547,[13] and is located about 2/3 of the way from Capella toward Beta Tauri. It also lies in the midst of the Melotte 31 cluster, but is merely a line-of-sight interloper.[6] The system has a relatively high proper motion, advancing across the celestial sphere at the rate of 0.166 arc seconds per annum,[14] and is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −28 km/s.[2]
Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Auriga |
Right ascension | 05h 18m 10.570s[1] |
Declination | +33° 22′ 17.81″[1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 4.552[2] |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | K2.5 IIIb CN-0.5[3] |
U−B color index | +1.26[4] |
B−V color index | +1.276[2] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | −28.44[2] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: +31.63±0.53[1] mas/yr Dec.: −160.73±0.25[1] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 14.04 ± 0.58 mas[1] |
Distance | 232 ± 10 ly (71 ± 3 pc) |
Absolute magnitude (MV) | 0.28[5] |
Orbit[6][7] | |
Period (P) | 434.16±0.03 d |
Semi-major axis (a) | 7.24±1.59 mas |
Eccentricity (e) | 0.1189±0.0026 |
Inclination (i) | 52.93±9.46° |
Longitude of the node (Ω) | 56.20±11.65° |
Periastron epoch (T) | 2,448,348.1172±17.1872 JD |
Argument of periastron (ω) (secondary) | 70.1±1.2° |
Details | |
16 Aur A | |
Mass | 1.30[2] M☉ |
Radius | 19.86±0.89[8] R☉ |
Luminosity | 127±11[8] L☉ |
Surface gravity (log g) | 1.87[9] cgs |
Temperature | 4,264±58[2] K |
Metallicity [Fe/H] | −0.40[9] dex |
Rotational velocity (v sin i) | 0.0[10] km/s |
Age | 5.07[2] Gyr |
Other designations | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
The primary component is a single-lined spectroscopic binary with an orbital period of 1.19 years and an eccentricity of 0.1189.[6] The visible member is an aging K-type giant star with a stellar classification of K2.5 IIIb CN-0.5;[3] sometimes just given as K3 III. The notation of the former class indicates weak lines of CN in the spectrum.[6] This star is an estimated five[2] billion years old with 1.30[2] times the mass of the Sun. As a consequence of exhausting the hydrogen at its core, it has expanded to 20 times the Sun's radius. The star is radiating 127[8] times the luminosity of the Sun from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,264 K.[2]
A third component is an magnitude 10.6 star at an angular separation of 4.2″.[12] It shows a common proper motion with the primary and thus is a likely third member of the system.[6]
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