Astronomy:Alpha Tucanae

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Short description: Binary star system in the constellation Tucana
α Tucanae
Tucana constellation map.svg
Red circle.svg
Location of α Tucanae (circled)
Observation data
Equinox J2000.0]] (ICRS)
Constellation Tucana
Right ascension  22h 18m 30.11244s[1]
Declination −60° 15′ 34.6664″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 2.86[2]
Characteristics
Spectral type K3 III[3]
U−B color index +1.54[2]
B−V color index +1.39[2]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)+45.8[4] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −77.000[1] mas/yr
Dec.: −32.823[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)17.7324 ± 0.3290[1] mas
Distance184 ± 3 ly
(56 ± 1 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)−1.05[5]
Absolute bolometric
magnitude
 (Mbol)
−1.97[5]
Orbit[6]
Period (P)4197.7 days
Eccentricity (e)0.39
Periastron epoch (T)18666.4
Argument of periastron (ω)
(secondary)
48.5°
Semi-amplitude (K1)
(primary)
7.2 km/s
Details
Mass2.5 - 3[7] M
Radius37[7] R
Luminosity424[7] L
Temperature4300[7] K
Other designations
CPD−60°7561, FK5 841, HD 211416, HIP 110130, HR 8502, SAO 255193[8]
Database references
SIMBADdata

Alpha Tucanae (α Tuc, α Tucanae) is a binary star system in the southern circumpolar constellation of Tucana. With an apparent visual magnitude of 2.86,[2] it can be seen with the naked eye from the southern hemisphere. Using parallax measurements, the distance to this system can be estimated as 184 light-years (56 parsecs). A cool star with a surface temperature of 4300 K, it is 424 times as luminous as the sun and 37 times its diameter. It is 2.5 to 3 times as massive. It is unclear what stage of evolution the star is in.[7]

This is a spectroscopic binary, which means that the two stars have not been individually resolved using a telescope, but the presence of the companion has been inferred from measuring changes in the spectrum of the primary. The orbital period of the binary system is 4197.7 days (11.5 years).[6] The primary component has a stellar classification of K3 III,[3] which indicates it is a giant star that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core and evolved away from the main sequence. It has the characteristic orange hue of a K-type star.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Vallenari, A. et al. (2022). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940  Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Johnson, H. L. et al. (1966), "UBVRIJKL photometry of the bright stars", Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory 4 (99): 99, Bibcode1966CoLPL...4...99J 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Houk, Nancy (1978), Michigan catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars, 1, Ann Arbor: Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Bibcode1975mcts.book.....H 
  4. Buscombe, W.; Kennedy, P. M. (1968), "Stellar radial velocities from coudé spectrograms", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 139 (3): 341–346, doi:10.1093/mnras/139.3.341, Bibcode1968MNRAS.139..341B 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Pasquini, L.; de Medeiros, J. R.; Girardi, L. (2000). "Ca II activity and rotation in F-K evolved stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics 361: 1011–1022. Bibcode2000A&A...361.1011P. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Pourbaix, D. et al. (2004), "SB9: The Ninth Catalogue of Spectroscopic Binary Orbits", Astronomy & Astrophysics 424: 727–732, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041213, Bibcode2004A&A...424..727P 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Kaler, Jim. "Alpha Tucanae". Stars. University of Illinois. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alphatuc.html. Retrieved 19 October 2013. 
  8. "alf Tuc -- Spectroscopic binary", SIMBAD (Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg), http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Alpha+Tucanae, retrieved 2012-01-20