Iota Trianguli, Latinized from ι Trianguli, is a quadruple

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 ...

system in constellation of

Triangulum Triangulum is a small constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "triangle", derived from its three brightest stars, which form a long and narrow triangle. Known to the ancient Babylonians and Greeks, Triangulum was one of the 48 ...

. The pair have a combined

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's li ...

of 4.95 and are approximately 290

light years 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 ...

from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

Both components of ι Trianguli are

spectroscopic binaries A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

and the brighter pair is variable. It has been given the

variable star designation In astronomy, a variable star designation is a unique identifier given to variable stars. It uses a variation on the Bayer designation format, with an identifying label (as described below) preceding the Latin genitive of the name of the constell ...

TZ Trianguli. The variations are due to the ellipsoidal shape of the stars as they rotate, and also it is classified as an

RS Canum Venaticorum variable An RS Canum Venaticorum variable is a type of variable star. The variable type consists of close binary stars having active chromospheres which can cause large stellar spots. These spots are believed to cause variations in their observed luminosi ...

. Together with

10 Trianguli 10 Trianguli is a solitary star located in the northern constellation Triangulum. It has an apparent magnitude of 5.28, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. The star is situated 363 light years away and is th ...

and

12 Trianguli 12 Trianguli is a solitary star located in the northern constellation Triangulum, with an apparent magnitude of 5.37, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. The star is situated 160 light years away but is appr ...

, it forms part of the obsolete

Triangulum Minus Triangulum Minus (Latin for the ''Smaller Triangle'') was a constellation created by Johannes Hevelius. Its name is sometimes wrongly written as Triangulum Min''or''. It was formed from the southern parts of his ''Triangulum, Triangula'' (plural f ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iota Trianguli F-type main-sequence stars Rotating ellipsoidal variables RS Canum Venaticorum variables Trianguli, TZ Spectroscopic binaries 4 Trianguli, Iota Triangulum (constellation) Durchmusterung objects Trianguli, 06 013480 010280 0642 G-type giants