Eta Tucanae, Latinized from η Tucanae, is a probable

binary star 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 ...

system in the southern

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 Tucana, a few degrees to the north of

Epsilon Tucanae Epsilon Tucanae (ε Tuc, ε Tucanae) is a solitary star in the southern constellation of Tucana. With an apparent visual magnitude of +4.50, it is faintly visible to the naked eye. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 8.74 mas as ...

. It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, white-hued point of light with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.00. parallax measurements provide a distance estimate of about 154

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 from the Sun, and it is drifting further away with a mean

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 +32.5 km/s. It is a member of the 30 million year old

Tucana-Horologium association The Tucana-Horologium association (Tuc-Hor), or Tucana Horologium moving group, is a stellar association with an age of 45 ± 4 Myr and it is one of the largest stellar associations within . The association has a similar size to the Beta Pictoris ...

of co-moving stars. The radial velocity for Eta Tucanae displays strong oscillations, suggesting this is a

spectroscopic binary A binary star is a system of two star, stars that are gravity, 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 separa ...

system. A companion was directly detected in 2014, but this result has some unexplained anomalies. The primary component is 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 ...

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 A1V. It is spinning rapidly 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 bulge ...

of 190 km/s, giving it an equatorial bulge that is 15% larger than the polar radius. The star has 1.9 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 1.8 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 23 times the luminosity of the Sun from its

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 9,057 K.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eta Tucanae A-type main-sequence stars Tucana (constellation) Tucanae, Eta CPD-64 4391 224392 118121 9062