6 Lyncis is a
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...
in the northern
constellation of
Lynx
A lynx is a type of wild cat.
Lynx may also refer to:
Astronomy
* Lynx (constellation)
* Lynx (Chinese astronomy)
* Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory
Places Canada
* Lynx, Ontar ...
,
located approximately 179
light year
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...
s from Earth.
It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, orange-hued star with an
apparent visual magnitude
Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's lig ...
of 5.86.
[ This object is moving away from the Earth with a heliocentric ]radial velocity
The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the rate of change of the distance or range between the two points. It is equivalent to the vector projection ...
of +40 km/s.[ It has a relatively high ]proper motion
Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...
, traversing the celestial sphere
In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, ...
at the rate of 0.341 arc second
A minute of arc, arcminute (arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of one degree. Since one degree is of a turn (or complete rotation), one minute of arc is of a turn. The nau ...
s per annum.[
This is an aging ]giant star
A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature.Giant star, entry in ''Astronomy Encyclopedia'', ed. Patrick Moore, New York: Oxford University Press ...
with a stellar classification
In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting t ...
of ,[ which indicates it has a mild overabundance of iron in its ]spectrum
A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of color ...
. At the age of 2.8 billion years old, it has exhausted the hydrogen at its core, causing it to evolve away from the 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 ...
. As a consequence, it has expanded to 5.2 times the radius of the Sun
Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of stars 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_ = 6.9 ...
although it only has 1.46 times the Sun's mass
The solar mass () is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. It is approximately equal to the mass of ...
. The star is radiating 14.9 times the luminosity of the Sun
The solar luminosity (), is a unit of radiant flux ( power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of the Sun.
One nomin ...
from its swollen photosphere
The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated.
The term itself is derived from Ancient Greek roots, φῶς, φωτός/''phos, photos'' meaning "light" and σφαῖρα/''sphaira'' meaning "sphere", in reference to it ...
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 4,994 K.
Planetary system
In July 2008, the planet 6 Lyncis b
6 Lyncis b (abbreviated 6 Lyn b) is an extrasolar planet orbiting the K-type subgiant star 6 Lyncis which is approximately 182 light years away in the Lynx constellation. The planet has a minimum mass . The orbital period for this planet is 8 ...
was announced by Bun'ei Sato and collaborators from the Okayama Planet Search Program
The Okayama Planet Search Program (OPSP) was started in 2001 with the goal of spectroscopically searching for planetary systems around stars. It reported on the detection of 3 new extrasolar planets: (18 Delphini b, xi Aql b, and 41 Lyncis b), ar ...
, along with 14 Andromedae b
14 Andromedae b (abbreviated 14 And b), formally named Spe , is an exoplanet approximately 249 light years away in the constellation of Andromeda.
The 186-day period planet orbits about 83% the Earth- Sun distance from the giant star 14 Androm ...
and 81 Ceti b
81 Ceti b (abbreviated 81 Cet b) is an extrasolar planet approximately 331 light years away in the constellation of Cetus. It is estimated to be 5.3 times the mass of Jupiter which also makes it a gas giant. It orbits the G-type giant star ...
. The planet was found to have minimum mass
In astronomy, minimum mass is the lower-bound calculated mass of observed objects such as planets, stars and binary systems, nebulae, and black holes.
Minimum mass is a widely cited statistic for extrasolar planets detected by the radial veloc ...
of 2.4 Jupiter masses and period of 899 days.
See also
* 14 Andromedae
14 Andromedae, abbreviated 14 And, also named Veritate , is a single, orange-hued giant star situated approximately 247 light-years away in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent v ...
* 81 Ceti
81 Ceti is a star located approximately 331 light years away from the Sun in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. ''81 Ceti'' is the Flamsteed designation for this object. It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, yellow-hued p ...
* HD 167042
HD 167042 is a 6th magnitude K-type subgiant star located approximately 164 light-years away in Draco constellation. It has mass of 1.88 times that of the Sun and the age is only 1.8 billion years old. When this star was a main sequence, ...
* Lists of exoplanets
These are lists of exoplanets. Most of these were discovered by the Kepler space telescope. There are an additional 2,054 potential exoplanets from Kepler's first mission yet to be confirmed, as well as 978 from its " Second Light" mission and ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:6 Lyncis
K-type giants
Planetary systems with one confirmed planet
Lynx (constellation)
Durchmusterung objects
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