κ Delphini (Latinised as Kappa Delphini, abbreviated to κ Del or kappa Del) is a

binary star system A binary star or binary star system is a Star system, system of two stars that are gravity, gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Delphinus Delphinus is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, close to the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin version for the Greek word for dolphin (). It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Pt ...

. It is faintly visible to the naked eye, with an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of 5.05. It is located about 98.8

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...

s away, based on its

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...

. Kappa Delphini is an

astrometric binary A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

. The primary star is an early G-type

subgiant A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as giant stars. The term subgiant is applied both to a particular spectral luminosity class and to a stage in the evolution ...

star. It has a mass 1.61 times that of the Sun, and is 6.8 times more luminous. The companion star regularly perturbs the G-type primary star primary, causing it to wobble around the

barycenter In astronomy, the barycenter (or barycentre; ) is the center of mass of two or more bodies that orbit one another and is the point about which the bodies orbit. A barycenter is a dynamical point, not a physical object. It is an important con ...

. From this, an orbital period of 45 years has been calculated. The secondary star is a low-mass star, at only . A third star is 12th magnitude ADS 14101 B, away in 2001, but it is a background object. HD 196794 is an 8th magnitude K2

, away in the sky, being at the same distance as κ Delphini and sharing a common proper motion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kappa Delphini Delphini, Kappa Delphinus G-type subgiants K-type subgiants 196755 7896 101916 Delphini, 07 Durchmusterung objects Astrometric binaries