39 Tauri 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 ...

in the northern constellation of Taurus. It has 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 5.90, so, according to the

Bortle scale The Bortle scale (also known as the Bottle scale) is a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's brightness of a particular location. It quantifies the astronomical observability of celestial objects and the interference caused by li ...

, it is faintly visible from suburban skies at night. Measurements made with 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 ...

spacecraft show an annual

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 object ...

shift of 0.0594728″, which is equivalent to a distance of around 55

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 the Sun. 39TauLightCurve

39 Tauri has been resolved into a pair of stars using speckle interferometry. However, many observations have failed to resolve the secondary star. 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 G5 V matches that of a G-type main sequence star; the type of the secondary component is unknown. Stellar models indicate the primary component is similar in physical properties to the Sun, with 110% of the Sun's mass, 96% of the radius, and shining with almost the same luminosity. The overall

metallicity In astronomy, metallicity is the abundance of elements present in an object that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. Most of the normal physical matter in the Universe is either hydrogen or helium, and astronomers use the word ''"metals"'' as ...

of the star—the abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium—is similar to the Sun. At a relatively youthful estimated age of one billion years, it is rotating with a period of 9.12 days. Based upon Hipparcos data, it displays a mild variability with an

amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of a ...

of 0.06

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

. The space velocity components of 39 Tauri are: –25.0(U), –14.0(V), –6.0(W). The surface activity and kinematic properties of this star are consistent with membership in the IC 2391

moving group In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar velocities in the Milky Way and its satellites as well as t ...

. It is following an orbit through the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...

galaxy that has 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- center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a ...

of 0.06 carrying it as close as to the

Galactic Center The Galactic Center or Galactic Centre is the rotational center, the barycenter, of the Milky Way galaxy. Its central massive object is a supermassive black hole of about 4 million solar masses, which is called Sagittarius A*, a compact ...

, and as far away as . The

orbital inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Ear ...

will carry the star no further than away from the

galactic plane The galactic plane is the plane on which the majority of a disk-shaped galaxy's mass lies. The directions perpendicular to the galactic plane point to the galactic poles. In actual usage, the terms ''galactic plane'' and ''galactic poles'' usual ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:39 Tauri G-type main-sequence stars Astrometric binaries Taurus (constellation) Tauri, A2 Tauri, 039

1262 Year 1262 ( MCCLXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Mongol Empire * Berke–Hulagu War: Mongol forces under Berke Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde, r ...

Durchmusterung objects Gliese and GJ objects 025680 019076