Chi Piscium (χ Piscium) is a solitary, orange-hued

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

in the

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this 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 first constellati ...

Pisces Pisces may refer to: *Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign Astronomy *Pisces (constellation), a constellation ** Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in the Milky Way's halo that is situated in the Pisces constellation ** Pisces II, a ...

. It can be seen with the naked eye, having an

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 +4.64. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 8.50 mas as seen from Earth, it is located about 384

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. This is an

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 ...

G-type

giant star A giant star has a substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature. They lie above the main sequence (luminosity class V in the Yerkes spectral classification) on the Hertzsp ...

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 G8.5 III. There is a 94% chance that it is on the

horizontal branch The horizontal branch (HB) is a stage of stellar evolution that immediately follows the red-giant branch in stars whose masses are similar to the Sun's. Horizontal-branch stars are powered by helium fusion in the core (via the triple-alpha proc ...

and is a

red clump The red clump is a clustering of red giants in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram at around 5,000 K and absolute magnitude (MV) +0.5, slightly hotter than most red-giant-branch stars of the same luminosity. It is visible as a denser region of ...

star, which means it is generating energy through

helium fusion The triple-alpha process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions by which three helium-4 nuclei (alpha particles) are transformed into carbon. In stars Helium accumulates in the cores of stars as a result of the proton–proton chain reaction a ...

at its core. Chi Piscium is estimated to have 3.17 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 ...

, nearly 21 times the

solar 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 ...

, and shines with 209 times the Sun's luminosity. It is around 380 million years old.

Naming

In Chinese, (), meaning ''

Legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element cap ...

(asterism)'', refers to an asterism consisting of χ Piscium, η Andromedae,

65 Piscium This is the list of notable stars in the 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, mythologi ...

, ζ Andromedae, ε Andromedae,

δ Andromedae Delta Andromedae is a triple star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda (constellation), Andromeda. Its identifier is a Bayer designation that is Romanization of Greek, Latinized from δ Andromedae, and abbreviated Delta ...

, π Andromedae, ν Andromedae,

μ Andromedae Mu Andromedae is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda (constellation), Andromeda. Its Bayer designation is Romanization of Greek, Latinized from μ Andromedae, and abbreviated Mu And or μ And, r ...

, β Andromedae,

σ Piscium Sigma Piscium (Sigma Psc, σ Piscium, σ Psc) is a binary star in the zodiac constellation of Pisces. It has an apparent magnitude of +5.50, meaning it is barely visible to the naked eye, according to the Bortle scale ...

τ Piscium Tau Piscium (τ Piscium) is an orange-hued star in the zodiac constellation of Pisces. With an apparent visual magnitude of +4.52, it is a dim star but visible to the naked eye. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 19.32 ...

, 91 Piscium, υ Piscium,

φ Piscium Phi Piscium, Latinized from φ Piscium, is a quadruple star system approximately 380 light years away in the constellation Pisces. It consists of Phi Piscium A, with a spectral type of K0III, and Phi Piscium B. Phi Piscium A posse ...

and ψ¹ Piscium. Consequently, the

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 ...

for χ Piscium itself is (, .)AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 5 月 19 日

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chi Piscium G-type giants Horizontal-branch stars Piscium, Chi Pisces (constellation) Durchmusterung objects Piscium, 084 005571 0351 007087