SX Phoenicis is a

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

in the southern constellation Phoenix. With an apparent visual magnitude ranging around 7.33, it is too faint to be readily seen with the naked eye and requires

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

. It is located 272

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, as determined from an annual parallax shift of . This is the prototype

SX Phoenicis variable An SX Phoenicis variable is a type of variable star. These stars exhibit a short period pulsation behavior that varies on time scales of 0.03–0.08 days (0.7–1.9 hours). They have spectral classifications in the range A2-F5 and vary in magnitude ...

, which means it is a population II, high

amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of amplit ...

pulsating variable A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

. SX Phoenicis has a very low

metallicity In astronomy, metallicity is the abundance of elements present in an object that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. Most of the normal physical matter in the Universe is either hydrogen or helium, and astronomers use the word ''"metals"'' as a ...

, with only 4% the proportion of iron of the Sun. A member of the galactic halo, it has a retrograde orbit around the center of the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

, and has an extremely high

peculiar velocity Peculiar motion or peculiar velocity refers to the velocity of an object relative to a ''rest frame'' — usually a frame in which the average velocity of some objects is zero. Galactic astronomy In galactic astronomy, peculiar motion refers to ...

of . From its movement through space, it can be a member of the Kapteyn group, a

moving group In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the Observational astronomy, observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar Velocity, velocities in the Milky W ...

of stars with a similar movement as

Kapteyn's Star Kapteyn's Star is a class M1 red subdwarf about 12.83 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Pictor; it is the closest halo star to the Solar System. With a magnitude of nearly 9 it is visible through binoculars or a teles ...

. Discovered to be variable by

Olin J. Eggen Olin Jeuck Eggen (July 9, 1919 – October 2, 1998) was an American astronomer. Biography Olin Jeuck Eggen was born to Olin Eggen and Bertha Clare Jeuck in the village of Orfordville in Rock County, Wisconsin. Both of his parents were of Norw ...

in 1952, SX Phoenicis has been targeted in many studies of its light curve and spectrum. These observations revealed that SX Phoenicis has two pulsations periods of 0.055 and 0.043 days, which correspond to radial pulsations in the fundamental mode and in the first overtone, respectively. Other pulsation frequencies, combinations of these two, are also observed. The pulsations also cause the

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 the star to vary by 38 km/s, with the same periods as the light variation. There is evidence that the pulsation periods change in a timescale of decades, with a possible cyclic variation period of 43 ± 10 years. Overall, the visual apparent magnitude of the star varies between 6.76 and 7.53. SX Phoenicis 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 A2 V. During the 1940s it was classed as a "probable subdwarf" because of its low luminosity for the spectral class. On average, it has a

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic power (light), the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object over time. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a st ...

of 5.89 times the Sun's luminosity and 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 7,700 K. During the primary pulsation cycle, the temperature varies between 7,230 K at minimum brightness up to 8,170 K at maximum brightness; when the two pulsation cycles are appropriately phased, the temperature can reach 8,400 K. Similarly, the pulsations cause the radius of the star to change, which is evidenced by changes in the surface gravity.

Stellar evolution Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is cons ...

models by Petersen and Christensen-Dalsgaard (1996), taking into account the pulsating behavior of the star, indicate that the properties of the star are consistent with a mass of 1.0

solar mass 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 an age of 4 billion years. The origin of SX Phoenicis, and of SX Phoenicis variables in general, remains unclear. While its properties are well explained by standard stellar evolution, the observation of SX Phoenicis variables in old globular clusters indicates that these stars are blue stragglers, presumably formed by the merger of two stars or by interactions in a binary system. This explains why SX Phoenicis seems to be a young star, despite belonging to the halo population. In this scenario, SX Phoenicis was formed as a close binary star, whose components merged and originated a rejuvenated star, which started evolving as a single star.

References

{{Stars of Phoenix A-type main-sequence stars SX Phoenicis variables Runaway stars Phoenix (constellation) Durchmusterung objects 223065 117254 Phoenicis, SX