Mu¹ Octantis, Latinized from μ¹ Octantis, 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 southern circumpolar constellation Octans. It has an apparent magnitude of 5.98, allowing it to be faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. Located 335

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

of . This object is an F-type star with the blended luminosity class of a giant star and a bright giant. At present it has 1.36 times the

mass of the Sun 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 ...

but has expanded to 4.68 times its girth. It radiates at from its enlarged

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 6,521 K, giving it a yellow white glow. Mu¹ Octantis is metal enriched and has an age of 900

million years The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...

References

{{Octans Octans F-type giants F-type bright giants Octantis, Mu1 Octantis, 50 Durchmusterung objects 196051 102162 7863