Astronomy:Tau4 Eridani

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Short description: Binary star system in the constellation Eridanus


τ4 Eridani
Location of τ4 Eridani (circled)
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0   Equinox (celestial coordinates)
Constellation Eridanus
Right ascension  03h 19m 31.00224s[1]
Declination −21° 45′ 28.3049″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 3.65[2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage asymptotic giant branch[3]
Spectral type M3/4 III[4]
U−B color index +1.79[2]
B−V color index +1.61[2]
Variable type Lb[5]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)+41.7±0.7[6] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: +51.89[1] mas/yr
Dec.: +32.92[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)10.6153 ± 0.3213[7] mas
Distance307 ± 9 ly
(94 ± 3 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)−0.79[8]
Details
Mass1.8±0.3[9] M
Radius106[10] R
Luminosity1,537[11] L
Temperature3,712[9] K
Other designations
τ4 Eridani, τ4 Eri, 16 Eridani, BD-22° 584, HD 20720, HIP 15474, HR 1003, SAO 168460.[12]
Database references
SIMBADdata

Tau4 Eridani4 Eridani, τ4 Eri) is a binary star system in the constellation Eridanus. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.65.[2] The distance to this star can be estimated using the parallax method, which yields a value of roughly 300 light years.[1]

A visual band light curve for Tau4 Eridani, plotted from data published by Tabur et al. (2009)[13]

This is an evolved red giant star currently on the asymptotic giant branch[3] with a stellar classification of M3/4 III.[4] It is a slow irregular variable star of type Lb, undergoing changes in magnitude over the range 3.57−3.72[5] with a periodicity of 23.8 d.[13] The measured angular diameter of Tau4 Eridani is 10.58±1.00 mas.[14] At its estimated distance, this yields a physical size of about 106 times the radius of the Sun.[10] It shines with 1,537[11] times the luminosity of the Sun from an outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of 3,712 K.[9]

This is most likely a binary star system.[15] The companion is a magnitude 9.5 star at an angular separation of 5.7 along a position angle of 291°, as of 2013.[16]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 van Leeuwen, F. (2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics 474 (2): 653–664, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357, Bibcode2007A&A...474..653V. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mermilliod, J.-C. (1986), "Compilation of Eggen's UBV data, transformed to UBV (unpublished)", Catalogue of Eggen's UBV Data (SIMBAD), Bibcode1986EgUBV........0M. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lebzelter, T.; Hron, J. (January 2008), "BRITE stars on the AGB", Communications in Asteroseismology 152: 178–181, doi:10.1553/cia152s178, Bibcode2008CoAst.152..178L, https://hw.oeaw.ac.at/0xc1aa5576_0x0019d7d9.pdf. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Houk, N.; Smith-Moore, M. (1988), Michigan Catalogue of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD Stars, 4, Bibcode1988mcts.book.....H. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Ruban, E. V. et al. (September 2006), "Spectrophotometric observations of variable stars", Astronomy Letters 32 (9): 604–607, doi:10.1134/S1063773706090052, Bibcode2006AstL...32..604R. 
  6. Gontcharov, G. A. (November 2006), "Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities for 35 495 Hipparcos stars in a common system", Astronomy Letters 32 (11): 759–771, doi:10.1134/S1063773706110065, Bibcode2006AstL...32..759G. 
  7. Brown, A. G. A. (2021). "Gaia Early Data Release 3: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics 649: A1. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039657. Bibcode2021A&A...649A...1G.  Gaia EDR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  8. Cardini, D. (January 2005), "Mg II chromospheric radiative loss rates in cool active and quiet stars", Astronomy and Astrophysics 430: 303–311, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041440, Bibcode2005A&A...430..303C. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Halabi, Ghina M.; Eid, Mounib El (2015). "Exploring masses and CNO surface abundances of red giant stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 451 (3): 2957. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1141. Bibcode2015MNRAS.451.2957H. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 Lang, Kenneth R. (2006), Astrophysical formulae, Astronomy and astrophysics library, 1 (3 ed.), Birkhäuser, ISBN 3-540-29692-1, https://books.google.com/books?id=OvTjLcQ4MCQC&pg=PA41.  The radius (R*) is given by:
    2R*=(9310.58103) AU0.0046491 AU/R212R
  11. 11.0 11.1 McDonald, I. et al. (2012), "Fundamental Parameters and Infrared Excesses of Hipparcos Stars", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 427 (1): 343–57, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21873.x, Bibcode2012MNRAS.427..343M. 
  12. "tau04 Eri". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=tau04+Eri. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 Tabur, V. et al. (December 2009), "Long-term photometry and periods for 261 nearby pulsating M giants", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 400 (4): 1945–1961, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15588.x, Bibcode2009MNRAS.400.1945T. 
  14. Richichi, A.; Percheron, I. (May 2005), "First results from the ESO VLTI calibrators program", Astronomy and Astrophysics 434 (3): 1201–1209, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20042257, Bibcode2005A&A...434.1201R. 
  15. Eggleton, P. P.; Tokovinin, A. A. (September 2008), "A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 389 (2): 869–879, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x, Bibcode2008MNRAS.389..869E. 
  16. Mason, B. D. et al. (2014), "The Washington Visual Double Star Catalog", The Astronomical Journal 122 (6): 3466–3471, doi:10.1086/323920, Bibcode2001AJ....122.3466M, http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR?-source=B/wds, retrieved 2015-07-22