Alpha Pictoris
Brightest star in the southern constellation of Pictor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alpha Pictoris (α Pic, α Pictoris) is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Pictor. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.27,[2] which is bright enough to be viewed from urban areas in the southern hemisphere. This star is close enough for its distance to be measured using parallax shifts, which yields a value of roughly 97 light-years (30 parsecs) from the Sun, with a 5% margin of error.[1] Alpha Pictoris has the distinction of being the south pole star of the planet Mercury.[14]
Quick Facts Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000, Constellation ...
Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
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Constellation | Pictor |
Right ascension | 06h 48m 11.45512s[1] |
Declination | −61° 56′ 29.0008″[1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 3.27[2] |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | A8 Vn kA6[3] |
U−B color index | +0.13[2] |
B−V color index | +0.21[2] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | +20.6[4] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: –66.07[1] mas/yr Dec.: +242.97[1] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 33.78 ± 1.78 mas[1] |
Distance | 97 ± 5 ly (30 ± 2 pc) |
Absolute magnitude (MV) | 0.86[5] |
Orbit[6] | |
Period (P) | 1618+1407 −325 days |
Semi-major axis (a) | 36+15 −2 mas |
Eccentricity (e) | 0.39+0.35 −0.17 |
Inclination (i) | 118±3° |
Longitude of the node (Ω) | 24±5° |
Periastron epoch (T) | 953+707 −640 |
Argument of periastron (ω) (secondary) | 92+22 −44° |
Details | |
Mass | 2.04[5] M☉ |
Radius | 1.6[7] R☉ |
Luminosity | 13[8] L☉ |
Surface gravity (log g) | 3.48[9] cgs |
Temperature | 7530[9] K |
Metallicity [Fe/H] | –0.11[3] dex |
Rotational velocity (v sin i) | 206[10] km/s |
Age | 660[11][12] Myr |
Other designations | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
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