112 Herculis 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 ...

system 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 ...

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

. It is dimly visible to the naked eye with 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 5.43. The secondary component is about two magnitudes fainter than the primary star. The distance to this system is approximately 415

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 based on

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 ...

measurements. It is drifting closer to the Sun with a

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity of a target with respect to an observer is the rate of change of the vector displacement between the two points. It is formulated as the vector projection of the target-observer relative velocity ...

of −20 km/s. The binary character of this system was discovered by W. F. Meyer in 1926. By measuring the variation in velocity of the primary component, he determined an

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 6.3624 days. K. Osawa in 1959 found 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 A4 III for the pair. W. P. Bidelman observed that the primary has unusually strong lines of ionized phosphorus, and it was assigned to the class of peculiar manganese stars by W. L. W. Sargent and L. Searle in 1962, with a resulting spectral type of B9. No evidence was found for a strong

magnetic field A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...

by P. S. Conti in 1970. In 1969, A. Cowley and associates found a stellar class of B9p Hg for this system, indicating a peculiar star with an abundance anomaly of mercury. C. E. Seligman in 1970 determined a

mass ratio In aerospace engineering, mass ratio is a measure of the efficiency of a rocket. It describes how much more massive the vehicle is with propellant than without; that is, the ratio of the rocket's ''wet mass'' (vehicle plus contents plus propellan ...

of 2.06 for the pair, which supported individual stellar classes of B7V and A3V for

main sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a classification of stars which appear on plots of stellar color index, color versus absolute magnitude, brightness as a continuous and distinctive band. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or d ...

components. The sharpness of the spectral lines suggested that at least the primary is rotating synchronously with its orbital period. A more detailed analysis by Seligman and L. H. Allen later in 1970 refined the classifications to B6.5V and A2V. The elemental abundances for both stars appeared similar, although the secondary abundances were more uncertain. In 1975, the primary was classified as a mercury-manganese star by C. R. Cowley and G. C. L. Aikman. T. A. Ryabchikova and associates in 1996 refined the mass ratio to 1.98. The primary showed significant deficiencies of helium and mercury, but a large overabundance of iron. The secondary component displayed abundances similar to an

Am star An Am star or metallic-line star is a type of chemically peculiar star of spectral type A whose spectrum has strong and often variable absorption lines of metals such as zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. ...

. This is a double-lined

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 ...

system with an orbital period of 6.36246 days and an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

(ovalness) of 0.11. As of 2021, measurements by the TESS

space telescope A space telescope (also known as space observatory) is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO ...

show a rotation period of 12.4 days for the primary, suggesting that it is not rotating synchronously with its orbit. Some variability in

flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...

was recorded by TESS, but this is due to orbital motion – the stars themselves do not appear to be variable.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:112 Herculis Mercury-manganese stars Am stars Spectroscopic binaries Hercules (constellation) 7113 Durchmusterung objects Herculis, 112 174933 92614