η Microscopii, Latinised as Eta Microscopii, is a solitary

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

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, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Microscopium. It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.53. The star is located around 910 light-years distant from the Sun 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 ...

, and is drifting further away with a

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 temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

of +22 km/s. This is an aging giant star 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 grati ...

of K3 III, indicating that it has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core then cooled and expanded. At present it has around 47 times the girth of the Sun. The star is radiating 735 times the luminosity of the Sun 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 4,365 K. Multiple star catalogues list two optical companions. Two arc-minutes away, the 8th magnitude HD 200733 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 much closer to Earth than η Microscopii. A 14th-magnitude star one arc-minute from η Microscopii is a background object.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eta Microscopii K-type giants Microscopium Microscopii, Eta Durchmusterung objects 200702 104177 8069