Zeta Virginis (ζ Virginis, abbreviated Zeta Vir, ζ Vir) is a
binary star
A binary star 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 using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...
in the
zodiac 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 origins of the e ...
of
Virgo. It is visible to the naked eye with an
apparent visual magnitude of +3.376 and is located about a half degree south of the
celestial equator. Based on
parallax
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...
measurements obtained during the
Hipparcos
''Hipparcos'' was a scientific satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 1989 and operated until 1993. It was the first space experiment devoted to precision astrometry, the accurate measurement of the positions of celestial obj ...
mission, it is about distant from the
Sun.
The two components are designated Zeta Virginis A (officially named Heze , a mid-20th-century name for the system)
and B.
Nomenclature
''ζ Virginis'' (
Latinised to ''Zeta Virginis'') is the system's
Bayer designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...
. The designations of the two components as ''Zeta Virginis 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. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speaki ...
s, and adopted by the
International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Zeta Virginis bore the name ''Heze'' in a 1951 publication, ''Atlas Coeli'' (
Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens), by Czech astronomer
Antonín Bečvář. Its origin is unknown.
In 2016, the IAU organized a
Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)
to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire
multiple systems.
It approved the name ''Heze'' for the component Zeta Virginis A on 1 June 2018 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.
In
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, (), meaning ''
Horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
(asterism)'', refers to an asterism consisting of ζ Virginis and
Spica. Consequently, the
Chinese name for ζ Virginis is (, en, the Second Star of Horn).
Properties
The primary, ζ Virginis A, is a
main sequence
In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Her ...
star with a
spectral class A3 V,
indicating that it is generating energy through the
nuclear fusion of hydrogen at its core. This energy is being radiated from its outer envelope at an
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 8,247 K,
giving it the white hue of an
A-type star.
[ It has twice the mass of the Sun and double the Sun's radius and is about a half billion years old.][
The star was confirmed by Jan Ovidiu Tercu and Gabriel Cristian Neagu as a variable of DSCT type. The variability has an amplitude of 0.009 magnitudes and a main period of 0.097112 d. Other observed periods are 0.439, 1.069, 0.07691 and 0.07433 d. The variability was discovered during the datamining activity with the goal of increasing the student's investigative competences.]orbital eccentricity
In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values betwee ...
of 0.16 or more and orbital period of a minimum of 124 years. This companion may be a red dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
star, which would explain the observed X-ray flux from this system.[
]
References
External links
*Boyajian, Tabetha S. et al., 2012. Stellar Diameters and Temperatures. I. Main-sequence A, F, and G Stars. The Astrophysical Journal vol 746 (1) p. 101
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeta Virginis
Bayer objects, Virginis, Zeta
Virgo (constellation)
A-type main-sequence stars
Heze
Heze, formerly known as Caozhou, is the westernmost prefecture-level city in Shandong province, China, it borders Jining to the east and the provinces of Henan and Anhui to the west and south respectively.
History
Caozhou was at the center ...
Virginis, 079
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Durchmusterung objects
Binary stars