Rho Ophiuchi (ρ Ophiuchi) is a

multiple star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speaki ...

in the

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 ...

Ophiuchus Ophiuchus () is a large constellation straddling the celestial equator. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "serpent-bearer", and it is commonly represented as a man grasping a snake. The serpent is represented by the constella ...

. The central system has an apparent magnitude of 4.63. Based on the central system's

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

of 9.03 mas, it is located about 360 light-years (110 parsecs) away. The other stars in the system are slightly farther away.

System

The central pair is known as Rho Ophiuchi AB. It consists of at least two blue-colored

subgiant A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as giant stars. The term subgiant is applied both to a particular spectral luminosity class and to a stage in the evolution ...

s or

main-sequence star In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hert ...

s, designated Rho Ophiuchi A and B, respectively. Rho Ophiuchi AB is a

visual binary A visual binary is a gravitationally bound binary star system that can be resolved into two stars. These stars are estimated, via Kepler's third law, to have periods ranging from a few years to thousands of years. A visual binary consists of two st ...

, and the sky-projected distance between the two stars appears to be 3.1″, corresponding to a separation of at least 344

astronomical unit The astronomical unit (symbol: au, or or AU) is a unit of length, roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun and approximately equal to or 8.3 light-minutes. The actual distance from Earth to the Sun varies by about 3% as Earth orbits t ...

s (au). However, the actual separation is larger, and the two take about 2,400 years to complete an orbit. The two stars dominate the radiation field around the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. Rho Ophiuchi A emits

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s, and exhibits strong variability in emission over periods of about 1.2 days, corresponding to its

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

. The exact origin of its X-ray variability is unknown: it could be an magnetically active spot on its surface, or it could be a small low-mass companion. Related to this is its extremely strong

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

; its dipole strength is at least B_d = 1.9 ± 0.2 kG. Several other stars are located close to Rho Ophiuchi AB. HD 147932 is located 2.5 arcminutes away (at least 17,000 au), and is known as Rho Ophiuchi C. HD 147888 is located 2.82 arcminutes away (at least 19,000 au), and is known as Rho Ophiuchi DE. Stars C and D are both

B-type main-sequence star A B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K. B-type star ...

s, and D itself is another binary with an orbital period of around 680 years.

Cloud complex

Rho Ophiuchi is the namesake of the

Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is a complex of interstellar clouds with different nebulae, particularly dark nebulae which is centered 1° south of the star ρ Ophiuchi, which it among others extends to, of the constellation Ophiuchus. At an es ...

. It is a nebula of gas and dust, which the Rho Ophiuchi system is embedded in. It is one of the easiest star forming regions to observe, as it is one of the nearest, and it is visible from both hemispheres. The

interstellar extinction In astronomy, extinction is the absorption and scattering of electromagnetic radiation by dust and gas between an emitting astronomical object and the observer. Interstellar extinction was first documented as such in 1930 by Robert Julius Trump ...

(A_''V'') of Rho Ophiuchi is measured to be 1.45

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

s, meaning the dust and gas in front of Rho Ophiuchi absorbs light from the system, making it appear 1.45 magnitudes dimmer than it would be if there were no dust or gas. Additionally, gas and dust also scatters more higher-frequency light, leaving the light appearing more reddish. The interstellar reddening (''E_B−V'') of Rho Ophiuchi has been measured to be 0.47 magnitudes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rho Ophiuchi Ophiuchus (constellation) 5 B-type main-sequence stars Ophiuchi, Rho Ophiuchi, 05 Durchmusterung objects 147933 080473 6112