14 Andromedae, abbreviated 14 And, also named Veritate , is a single, orange-hued giant star situated approximately 247

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 in the northern

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 ...

of Andromeda. It is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.22. The star is moving closer to the Earth 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 −60 km/s. In 2008 an extrasolar planet (designated 14 Andromedae b, later named ''Spe'') was discovered to be orbiting the star. This is a red clump giant 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 K0 III, indicating it is on the

horizontal branch The horizontal branch (HB) is a stage of stellar evolution that immediately follows the red-giant branch in stars whose masses are similar to the Sun's. Horizontal-branch stars are powered by helium fusion in the core (via the triple-alpha process) ...

and is generating energy through helium fusion at its core. The star has 1.12 (or 2.2) 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 ...

and has expanded to 10.5 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 60.3 times the Sun's luminosity 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 4,743 K. It is thought it was formerly an A- or F-type main-sequence star earlier in its life, prior to evolving into a giant.

Nomenclature

14 Andromedae is the star's Flamsteed designation. Following its discovery the planet was designated 14 Andromedae b. In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars. The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names were Veritate for this star and Spe for its planet. The winning names were based on those submitted by the Thunder Bay Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada); namely 'Veritas' and 'Spes', Latin for 'truth' and 'hope', respectively. (Veritas was also the Roman goddess of truth and Spes was the Roman goddess of hope.) The IAU substituted the ablative forms 'Veritate' and 'Spe', which mean 'where there is truth' and 'where there is hope', respectively. This was because 'Veritas' is the name of an asteroid important for the study of the solar system. In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. In its first bulletin of July 2016, the WGSN explicitly recognized the names of exoplanets and their host stars approved by the Executive Committee Working Group Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, including the names of stars adopted during the 2015 NameExoWorlds campaign. This star is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.

Planetary system

In 2008, a planet was announced to be orbiting the star. The planet was found to have a minimum mass of 4.8 Jupiter masses and to be orbiting in a circular orbit that takes 186

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

s to complete. The planet is one of the few known planets to be orbiting an evolved intermediate-mass star and one of the innermost (such planets have only been discovered in clump giants).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:14 Andromedae K-type giants Horizontal-branch stars Planetary systems with one confirmed planet Andromeda (constellation) Durchmusterung objects Andromedae, 14 221345 116076 8930

Nomenclature

Planetary system

See also

References

External links