Triple star or quadruple star system in the constellation Perseus
56 Persei is at least a triple star [ 10] and possibly a quadruple star [ 3] system in the northern constellation of Perseus . It is visible to the naked eye as a dim point of light with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 5.77.[ 2] The system is located 139 light-years (42.5 pc) distant from the Sun based on parallax ,[ 1] but is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −32 km/s.[ 2]
The main component is a binary system [ 12] with an orbital period of 47.3 years and a semimajor axis of 17.60 AU . The primary, designated component Aa, is an F-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of F4V, a star that is currently fusing its core hydrogen .[ 7] It is 1.8[ 8] billion years old with 1.5[ 7] times the mass of the Sun and twice[ 1] the Sun's radius . It is radiating 7[ 8] times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 6,629 K.[ 8]
The companion, component Ab, is a hydrogen–rich white dwarf star with a class of DA3.1,[ 3] having begun its main sequence life with more mass than the current primary and thus evolved into a compact star more rapidly. It now has 90% of the Sun's mass – much higher than the 0.6 M ☉ for an average white dwarf – and an effective temperature of 16,420 K;[ 10] contributing an ultraviolet excess to the system.[ 3]
Component B shares a common linear motion through space with the primary, and thus may form a third member of the system. This star has 0.84 times the mass of the Sun and a projected separation of 178.2 AU from the primary.[ 7] The Washington Double Star Catalogue has it classified as a double star, with a magnitude 11.30 companion at an angular separation of 0.60″ along a position angle of 292°, as of 2002.[ 5]
References
^ a b c d e f g h Brown, A. G. A. ; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties" . Astronomy & Astrophysics . 616 . A1. arXiv :1804.09365 . Bibcode :2018A&A...616A...1G . doi :10.1051/0004-6361/201833051 . Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR .
^ a b c d e f Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012), "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation", Astronomy Letters , 38 (5): 331, arXiv :1108.4971 , Bibcode :2012AstL...38..331A , doi :10.1134/S1063773712050015 , S2CID 119257644 .
^ a b c d e Holberg, J. B.; et al. (2013), "Where are all the Sirius-like binary systems?", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 435 (3): 2077, arXiv :1307.8047 , Bibcode :2013MNRAS.435.2077H , doi :10.1093/mnras/stt1433 .
^ Fabricius, C.; et al. (2002), "The Tycho double star catalogue", Astronomy and Astrophysics , 384 : 180–189, Bibcode :2002A&A...384..180F , doi :10.1051/0004-6361:20011822 .
^ a b Mason, B. D.; et al. (2014), "The Washington Visual Double Star Catalog", The Astronomical Journal , 122 (6): 3466, Bibcode :2001AJ....122.3466M , doi :10.1086/323920
^ Cannon, Annie J.; Mayall, Margaret Walton (1949), "The Henry Draper extension. II", Annals of Harvard College Observatory , 112 : 1–295, Bibcode :1949AnHar.112....1C .
^ a b c d Tokovinin, A.; Kiyaeva, O. (2015), "Eccentricity distribution of wide binaries", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 456 (2): 2070, arXiv :1512.00278 , Bibcode :2016MNRAS.456.2070T , doi :10.1093/mnras/stv2825 .
^ a b c d e f g David, Trevor J.; Hillenbrand, Lynne A. (2015), "The Ages of Early-Type Stars: Strömgren Photometric Methods Calibrated, Validated, Tested, and Applied to Hosts and Prospective Hosts of Directly Imaged Exoplanets", The Astrophysical Journal , 804 (2): 146, arXiv :1501.03154 , Bibcode :2015ApJ...804..146D , doi :10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/146 , S2CID 33401607 .
^ Gáspár, András; Rieke, George H.; Ballering, Nicholas (2016), "The Correlation between Metallicity and Debris Disk Mass", The Astrophysical Journal , 826 (2): 171, arXiv :1604.07403 , Bibcode :2016ApJ...826..171G , doi :10.3847/0004-637X/826/2/171 , S2CID 119241004 .
^ a b c d e Landsman, Wayne; et al. (March 1996), "The White-Dwarf Companions of 56 Persei and HR 3643", Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , 108 : 250, arXiv :astro-ph/9512117 , Bibcode :1996PASP..108..250L , doi :10.1086/133718 , S2CID 14398914 .
^ "54 Per" . SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved 2019-07-21 .
^ 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, arXiv :0806.2878 , Bibcode :2008MNRAS.389..869E , doi :10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x , S2CID 14878976 .