Lambda Piscis Austrini, Latinized from λ Piscis Austrini, is a solitary

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 southern

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 ...

Piscis Austrinus Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for "the southern fish", in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fish. Before the 20th century, it was also known as ...

. It has a blue-white hue and is visible to the naked eye with 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 +5.42. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 6.51 mas as measured from Earth, it is located around 500

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 The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

. At that distance, the visual magnitude of the star is diminished by an extinction factor of 0.16 due to

interstellar dust Cosmic dustalso called extraterrestrial dust, space dust, or star dustis dust that occurs in outer space or has fallen onto Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and , such as micrometeoroids (30 μm). Cosmic dust can ...

. This is a

B-type main sequence star A B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K. B-type stars ...

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 B7 V. It has an estimated 3.58 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 ...

and about 4.2 times the

Sun's 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\ti ...

. The star is spinning with a

projected rotational velocity Stellar rotation is the angular motion of a star about its axis. The rate of rotation can be measured from the spectrum of the star, or by timing the movements of active features on the surface. The rotation of a star produces an equatorial bu ...

of 50 km/s and is 76% of the way through its

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 ...

lifetime. It is radiating 249 times the

solar luminosity The solar luminosity () is a unit of radiant flux (Power (physics), power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxy, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of ...

from its

photosphere The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated. It extends into a star's surface until the plasma becomes opaque, equivalent to an optical depth of approximately , or equivalently, a depth from which 50% of light will esc ...

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 12,023 K. Lambda Piscis Austrini is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 18.1 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 23,800 and 29,300 light years from the center of the Galaxy.

Naming

In Chinese, (), meaning ''

Palace Guard ''Palace Guard'' is an American crime drama television series that was briefly broadcast by CBS from October 18 to November 1, 1991, as part of its 1991 fall lineup. It was produced by Stephen J. Cannell. Synopsis ''Palace Guard'' is the story ...

'', refers to an asterism consisting of λ Piscis Austrini, 29 Aquarii, 35 Aquarii, 41 Aquarii, 47 Aquarii, 49 Aquarii,

HD 212448 HD may refer to: Business * H-D or Harley-Davidson, a motorcycle manufacturer * The Home Depot, NYSE stock symbol: HD Chemistry * Hydrogen deuteride, a diatomic compound of hydrogen and deuterium * Mustard gas Codes * Air Do, formerly Ho ...

, ε Piscis Austrini,

21 Piscis Austrini This is the list of notable stars in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, sorted by decreasing brightness. See also * List of stars by constellation References * * * * * {{Stars of Piscis Austrinus *List Piscis Austrinus Piscis Austrinus ...

20 Piscis Austrini This is the list of notable stars in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, sorted by decreasing brightness. See also * List of stars by constellation References * * * * * {{Stars of Piscis Austrinus *List Piscis Austrinus Piscis Austrinus ...

, υ Aquarii, 68 Aquarii, 66 Aquarii, 61 Aquarii, 53 Aquarii, 50 Aquarii, 56 Aquarii, 45 Aquarii, 58 Aquarii, 64 Aquarii, 65 Aquarii, 70 Aquarii, 74 Aquarii, τ² Aquarii, τ¹ Aquarii, δ Aquarii, 77 Aquarii, 88 Aquarii, 89 Aquarii, 86 Aquarii, 101 Aquarii, 100 Aquarii, 99 Aquarii, 98 Aquarii, 97 Aquarii, 94 Aquarii, ψ³Aquarii, ψ²Aquarii, ψ¹Aquarii, 87 Aquarii, 85 Aquarii, 83 Aquarii, χ Aquarii, ω¹ Aquarii and ω² Aquarii. 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 λ Piscis Austrini itself is (, .)AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 7 月 7 日

References

{{Stars of Piscis Austrinus, state=collapsed B-type main-sequence stars Piscis Austrini, Lambda Piscis Austrinus Durchmusterung objects Piscis Austrini, 16 210934 109789 8478