γ Hydri, Latinised as Gamma Hydri, is a solitary, red-hued star in the constellation

Hydrus Hydrus is a small constellation in the deep southern sky. It was one of twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and it first appeared on a 35-cm (14 in) d ...

. It has 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 3.26, making it easily visible to the naked eye at night. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 15.24 mas as measured from Earth, the system is located about 214 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 ...

. This is an

evolved Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

red giant star with a stellar classification of M1 III, and is most likely on the asymptotic giant branch of the

HR diagram HR, Hr or hr may refer to: Arts and media Film and television * ''H.R. Pufnstuf'', a children's television series from 1969 * ''HR'', a 2013 television drama starring Alicia Silverstone * HR, a criminal organisation in the American TV series ''Pe ...

. It is a

semiregular variable In astronomy, a semiregular variable star, a type of variable star, is a giant or supergiant of intermediate and late (cooler) spectral type showing considerable periodicity in its light changes, accompanied or sometimes interrupted by various irre ...

that pulsates between magnitudes 3.26 and 3.33, although its period is not known precisely. It has about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to around 62 times the Sun's radius. The star is radiating 513 times the

Sun's luminosity 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 enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamma Hydri M-type giants Semiregular variable stars Hydrus (constellation) Hydri, Gamma Durchmusterung objects 024512 017678 1208