63 Aurigae

63 Aurigae

63 Aurigae in optical light
Observation data Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation	Auriga
Right ascension	07^h 11^m 39.32608^s[1]
Declination	+39° 19′ 13.9844″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	4.91[2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage	giant
Spectral type	K4 III[3]
B−V color index	1.451±0.005[2]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)	−27.89±0.02[2] km/s
Proper motion (μ)	RA: +45.655[1] mas/yr Dec.: +2.791[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)	8.2489 ± 0.1974 mas[1]
Distance	395 ± 9 ly (121 ± 3 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)	−0.95[2]
Details
Radius	36.88+0.87 −1.51[1] R☉
Luminosity	335.37±9.25[1] L☉
Surface gravity (log g)	1.88[4] cgs
Temperature	4067.5+85.8 −47.5[1] K
Metallicity [Fe/H]	−0.17±0.06[2] dex
Other designations
63 Aur, BD+39°1882, FK5 274, HD 54716, HIP 34752, HR 2696, SAO 59866[5]
Database references
SIMBAD	data

63 Aurigae is a single^[6] star located around 395^[1] light years away from the Sun in the northern constellation of Auriga.^[5] It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, orange-hued star with an apparent magnitude of 4.91.^[2] It is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −28 km/s.^[2]

This is an evolved giant star with a stellar classification of K4 III.^[3] After exhausting the hydrogen at its core, the star has expanded to 37^[1] times the radius of the Sun. It is radiating 335^[1] times the Sun's luminosity from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,068 K.^[1]

It was also known to be part of a much bigger constellation named Telescopium Herschelii before it was unrecognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

References

1. Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616. A1. arXiv:1804.09365. Bibcode:2018A&A...616A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051. Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR.
2. Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012), "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation", Astronomy Letters, 38 (5): 331, arXiv:1108.4971, Bibcode:2012AstL...38..331A, doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015, S2CID 119257644.
3. Keenan, Philip C.; McNeil, Raymond C. (1989), "The Perkins Catalog of Revised MK Types for the Cooler Stars", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 71: 245, Bibcode:1989ApJS...71..245K, doi:10.1086/191373.
4. McWilliam, Andrew (December 1990), "High-resolution spectroscopic survey of 671 GK giants. I - Stellar atmosphere parameters and abundances", Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 74: 1075–1128, Bibcode:1990ApJS...74.1075M, doi:10.1086/191527.
5. "63 Aur". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
6. Eggleton, P. P.; Tokovinin, A. A. (September 2008), "A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 389 (2): 869–879, arXiv:0806.2878, Bibcode:2008MNRAS.389..869E, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x, S2CID 14878976.