6 Equulei is a probable (95% chance)

astrometric binary 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 ...

star system in the northern constellation of

Equuleus Equuleus ( ) is a constellation of stars that are visible in the night sky. Its name is Latin for "little horse", a foal. Located just north of the celestial equator, it was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolem ...

, located 380 light years from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. It is barely visible to the naked eye as a dim, white-hued star with an

apparent visual 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 lig ...

of 6.07. The system is moving further away from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +6.9 km/s. It forms a wide

optical double In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a bi ...

with γ Equulei, at an angular separation of 336

arcseconds A minute of arc, arcminute (arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of one degree. Since one degree is of a turn (or complete rotation), one minute of arc is of a turn. The ...

in 2011. The visible component is an

Ap star Ap and Bp stars are chemically peculiar stars (hence the "p") of spectral types A and B which show overabundances of some metals, such as strontium, chromium and europium. In addition, larger overabundances are often seen in praseodymium and neo ...

with a stellar classification of A2Vs, matching the evolutionary state of an

A-type main sequence star An A-type main-sequence star (A V) or A dwarf star is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type A and luminosity class V (five). These stars have spectra defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines. They measure between 1 ...

while displaying "sharp" absorption lines. It is an estimated 970 million years old 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 bulg ...

of 65 km/s. The star has 2.6 times the mass of the Sun and around 1.7 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 71 times the

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

from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 9,078 K.

References

External links

frostydrew.org/stars.dc/star/id-126597/pss-obsy

www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=6+Equulei
{{DEFAULTSORT:6 Equulei A-type main-sequence stars Ap stars Equuleus Durchmusterung objects Equulei, 06 201616 104538 8098