Pi1 Cygni (π1 Cygni, abbreviated Pi1 Cyg, π1 Cyg) is a
binary star
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 ...
in the northern
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 ...
of Cygnus. It is visible to the naked eye, having a combined
apparent visual magnitude
Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the 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 of the object's light ca ...
of 4.66. The distance to this system can be roughly gauged by its annual parallax shift of 1.89 mas, which yields a separation of around 1,700
light year
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by t ...
s from the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
, give or take a hundred light years.
The two components are designated Pi1 Cygni A (officially named Azelfafage , the traditional name for the system) and B.
Nomenclature
''π1 Cygni'' ( Latinised to ''Pi1 Cygni'') is the star's
Bayer designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek alphabet, Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive case, genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer design ...
. The designations of the two components as ''Pi1 Cygni A'' and ''B'' derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for
multiple star system
A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a ''st ...
s, and adopted by the
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
(IAU).
It bore the traditional name ''Azelfafage'', derived from the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
ظلف الفرس ''Dhilf al-faras'' meaning "the horse track" or (probably) ذيل الدجاجة ''Dhail al-dajājah'' meaning "the tail of hen". In 2016, the IAU organized a
Working Group on Star Names
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under Division C – Education ...
(WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Azelfafage'' for Pi1 Cygni on 12 September 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. For such names relating to members of multiple star systems, and where a component letter is not explicitly listed, the WGSN says that the name should be understood to be attributed to the brightest component by visual brightness - in this case Pi1 Cygni A.
In
Chinese
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
Alpha Lacertae
Alpha Lacertae, Latinised from α Lacertae, also named Stellio, is a single white-hued star in the constellation of Lacerta, located 103 light-years from the Sun. It is the brightest star in Lacerta with an apparent visua ...
,
4 Lacertae
4 Lacertae is a single blue supergiant star in the northern constellation Lacerta, located about 2,600 light years away. This object visible to the naked eye as a white-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.55. It is moving ...
HD 206267
HD 206267A is a hierarchical triple star system in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus. Two of the members form a spectroscopic binary that orbit each other with a period of 3.7 days, while a third member lies further awa ...
,
Epsilon Cephei
Epsilon Cephei, Latinized from ε Cephei, is a star in the northern constellation of Cepheus. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 38.17 mas as seen from the Earth, it is located about 85 light years from the Sun. The star ...
Sigma Cassiopeiae
Sigma Cassiopeiae (σ Cas, σ Cassiopeiae) is a binary star in the constellation Cassiopeia (constellation), Cassiopeia. It is 1,200 to from Earth and has a combined apparent magnitude of +4.88, making it visible to the naked eye.
Th ...
,
Rho Cassiopeiae
Rho Cassiopeiae (; ρ Cas, ρ Cassiopeiae) is a yellow hypergiant star in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is about distant, yet can still be seen by the naked eye as it is over 300,000 times brighter than the Sun. On average it has an ...
,
Tau Cassiopeiae
Tau Cassiopeiae (τ Cassiopeiae) is a solitary, orange hued star in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia. It is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +4.86. Based upon an annual parallax s ...
,
AR Cassiopeiae
AR Cassiopeiae (AR Cas) is a variable star in the constellation of Cassiopeia (constellation), Cassiopeia. It is thought to be a member of a multiple star system, septuple star system, one of only two known star systems with a multipl ...
,
9 Lacertae
9 Lacertae is a single star in the northern constellation Lacerta, located 172 light years away from Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, white-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.64. This object is moving furt ...
,
3 Andromedae
3 Andromedae, abbreviated 3 And, is a single star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. ''3 Andromedae'' is the Flamsteed designation. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.64. The distance to this ...
,
7 Andromedae
7 Andromedae, also named Honores, is a single, yellow-white hued star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. ''7 Andromedae'' is the Flamsteed designation, abbreviated 7 And. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual m ...
,
8 Andromedae
8 Andromedae, abbreviated 8 And, is a probable triple star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda. ''8 Andromedae'' is the Flamsteed designation. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.82. Base ...
Kappa Andromedae
Kappa Andromedae, Romanization of Greek, Latinized from κ Andromedae, also named Kaffalmusalsala, is a star in the northern constellation of Andromeda (constellation), Andromeda. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual mag ...
Chinese name
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethni ...
spectroscopic 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 ...
with a close, circular
orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...
, having a
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Period (punctuation)
* Era, a length or span of time
*Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period"
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (o ...
of just 26.33 days. The primary, component A, is a slightly
evolved
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
subgiant star
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 of ...
with a
stellar classification
In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction gratin ...
of B3 IV. It has an estimated 10 times the
mass of the Sun
The solar mass () is a frequently used unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies a ...
and around 5.6 times the
Sun's radius
Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of objects in astronomy relative to the Sun. The solar radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the Sun's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3:
1\,R_ = 6.957\ti ...
. The star radiates 16,538 times the
solar luminosity
The solar luminosity () is a unit of radiant flux (Power (physics), power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxy, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of ...
effective temperature
The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...
of roughly 18,360 K. It is about 25 million years old and is spinning with a
projected rotational velocity
Stellar rotation is the angular motion of a star about its axis. The rate of rotation can be measured from the spectrum of the star, or by timing the movements of active features on the surface.
The rotation of a star produces an equatorial bu ...