Xi Piscium

Xi Piscium
Diagram showing star positions and boundaries of the Pisces constellation and its surroundings


Location of ξ Piscium(circled)

Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Pisces
Right ascension 01h 53m 33.351s[1]
Declination +03° 11 15.15[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 4.61
Characteristics
Spectral type K0III SB
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ) RA: 24.48 ± 0.96[1] mas/yr
Dec.: 25.99 ± 0.59[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)18.21 ± 0.78[1] mas
Distance179 ± 8 ly
(55 ± 2 pc)
Other designations
ξ Piscium, ξ Psc, Xi Psc, 111 Piscium, BD+02 290, FK5 65, HD 11559, HIP 8833, HR 549, SAO 110206, WDS J02020+246AB.[2]

Xi Piscium (Xi Psc, ξ Piscium, ξ Psc) is a spectroscopic binary star system[3] in the constellation of Pisces, with an apparent magnitude of +4.61. The primary component is an orange K-type giant. It is approximately 179 light years from Earth.

In 1690, the astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his Firmamentum Sobiescianum regarded the constellation Pisces as being composed of four subdivisions. Xi Piscium was considered to be part of the Linum Austrinum, the South Cord.[4]

The spectroscopic binary nature of this star was discovered in 1901 by William Wallace Campbell using the Mills spectrograph at the Lick Observatory.[5]

Xi Piscium is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 30.7 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 24,100 and 39,700 light years from the center of the Galaxy.[6]

Xi Piscium came closest to the Sun 1.8 million years ago when it had brightened to magnitude 1.77 from a distance of 51 light years.[6]

In non-Western astronomy

In Chinese astronomy, the "Outer Fence" (Chinese: 外屏; pinyin: Wài Píng) refers to an asterism consisting of ξ Piscium, δ Piscium, ε Piscium, ζ Piscium, μ Piscium, ν Piscium and α Piscium. Consequently, ξ Piscium itself is known as the "Sixth Star of the Outer Fence" (Chinese: 外屏六; pinyin: Wài Píng liù)[7]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.