Xi Telescopii, Latinized from ξ Telescopii, is a solitary

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

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 ...

of Telescopium. It is visible to the naked eye, with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.95. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 3.02

mas Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * Más ( ...

as measured from Earth, it is located approximately 1,100

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. This is an evolved star 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 K5 III or M1 IIab, indicating it is a giant or bright giant star. This is a variable star tentatively classified as a slow irregular-type variable with a brightness that varies between magnitude +4.89 and +4.94. Koen and Eyer examined the ''

Hipparcos ''Hipparcos'' was a scientific satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 1989 and operated until 1993. It was the first space experiment devoted to precision astrometry, the accurate measurement of the positions of celestial obj ...

'' data for this star, and found that it varied periodically, with a period of 12.36 days, and an amplitude of 0.0083 magnitudes. With around 56 times the Sun's radius, it shines with 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 ...

approximately 2,973 times that of the Sun and has a surface temperature of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xi Telescopii K-type giants M-type bright giants Suspected variables Telescopii, Xi Telescopium 190421 099120 7673 Durchmusterung objects