Xi Puppis (ξ Puppis, abbreviated Xi Pup, ξ Pup) 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 speaking ...

in the southern constellation of

Puppis Puppis is a constellation in the southern sky. Puppis, the Latin translation of " poop deck", was originally part of an over-large constellation Argo Navis (the ship of Jason and the Argonauts), which centuries after its initial description, w ...

. With an

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 3.35, it is one of the brighter members of this constellation. Based on

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 object ...

measurements made during 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 ...

mission, it is located approximately from the Sun, with a 7.5%

margin of error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in the results of a survey. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that a poll result would reflect the result of a census of the en ...

. The system consists of a spectroscopic binary, designated Xi Puppis A, together with a third companion star, Xi Puppis B. A's two components are themselves designated Xi Puppis Aa (formally named Azmidi ) and Ab.

Nomenclature

''ξ Puppis'' ( Latinised to ''Xi Puppis'') is the system's

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. T ...

. The designations of the two constituents as ''Xi Puppis A'' and ''B'', and those of ''A's'' components - ''Xi Puppis Aa'' and ''Ab'' - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for

s, and adopted by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

(IAU). The system was sometimes known as ''Asmidiske'' (''Azmidiske''), a misspelling and misplacement of ''Aspidiske'' (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

for 'little shield), the traditional name of Iota Carinae. In 2016, the IAU organized a

Working Group on Star Names The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize List of proper names of stars, proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under ...

(WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name ''Azmidi'' for the component Xi Puppis Aa on 1 June 2018 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.

Properties

Because of the distance of this system from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

, its visual magnitude is reduced by 0.73 as a result of

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds ( taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed ...

from the intervening gas and dust. Xi Puppis A presents as a yellow supergiant of spectral class G6 with a luminosity 8,300 times that of the Sun. The 13th-magnitude companion, Xi Puppis B, is about 5

arcsecond A minute of arc, arcminute (arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of one degree. Since one degree is of a turn (or complete rotation), one minute of arc is of a turn. The na ...

s distant and is a

Sun-like star Solar-type star, solar analogs (also analogues), and solar twins are stars that are particularly similar to the Sun. The stellar classification is a hierarchy with solar twin being most like the Sun followed by solar analog and then solar-typ ...

that

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such a ...

s at least 2000 AU away with 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 at least 26,000 years.

References

External links

Asmidiske
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xi Puppis Puppis, Xi Puppis, 07 Double stars 063700 038170 Puppis G-type supergiants Azmidi 3045 Durchmusterung objects