V471 Tauri (short V471 Tau) is a eclipsing variable star in the constellation of

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus * '' Bos tauru ...

. The star has a visual magnitude of 9 which makes it impossible to see with the naked eye. It is around 155 light-years away from the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

Physical properties

The V471 Tauri system has at least two members: a

white dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

star of spectral type D2; and a

K-type main sequence star A K-type main-sequence star, also referred to as a K-type dwarf or an orange dwarf, is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type K and luminosity class V. These stars are intermediate in size between red M-type main-sequence star ...

(K2 V). There are variations in the timing of the eclipses that were once thought to be due to a third member of the system, proposed to be a

brown dwarf Brown dwarfs (also called failed stars) are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen ( 1H) into helium in their cores, unlike a main-sequence star. Instead, they have a mass between the most ...

, but this has been ruled out and the eclipse variations may be caused by the

Applegate mechanism The Applegate mechanism (Applegate's mechanism or Applegate effect) explains long term orbital period variations seen in certain eclipsing binaries. As a main sequence star goes through an activity cycle, the outer layers of the star are subject t ...

. The system is located in the

Hyades star cluster The Hyades (; Greek Ὑάδες, also known as Caldwell 41, Collinder 50, or Melotte 25) is the nearest open cluster and one of the best-studied star clusters. Located about away from the Sun, it consists of a roughly spherical group of hundreds ...

References

{{Stars of Taurus K-type main-sequence stars White dwarfs Multiple stars Taurus (constellation) Tauri, V471 017962