HD 117440, also known by its Bayer designation d Centauri, is a binary star system in the southern constellation of

Centaurus Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. ...

. It is visible to the naked eye with a combined

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 3.90. The distance to this system is approximately 900 light years based on parallax measurements. It is drifting closer to 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 ...

with a radial velocity of −2 km/s. A companion star was first reported by T. J. J. See in 1897 at an angular separation of from the primary. Orbital elements for the pair were published by W. S. Finsen in 1962 then updated in 1964, yielding an

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 83.1 years with a

semimajor axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the lo ...

of and an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

of 0.52. Both components are

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 ...

G-type

giant star A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature.Giant star, entry in ''Astronomy Encyclopedia'', ed. Patrick Moore, New York: Oxford University Press ...

s with a yellow, Sun-like hue. The primary, component A, has an apparent magnitude of +4.64, while the secondary, component B, has an apparent magnitude of +5.03.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hd 117440 G-type giants Binary stars Centaurus (constellation) Centauri, d Durchmusterung objects 117440 065936 5089