ADS 9731 is a star system that consists of six stars, located in the constellation of Corona Borealis. Four of the stars are visually separate in the sky, forming a visual star system, which was resolved using adaptive optics in 1995.[7] Two of these stars were themselves found to be spectroscopic binaries in 1998, resulting in a total of six known stars in the system.[2] It is one of very few multiple star systems known to have at least six members.[2]
Aa
Period = 3.27 d
Ab
Period = 450 y
B
Period = 20,000 y
C
Period = 1000 y
Da
Period = 14.28 d
Db
Hierarchy of orbits
The components are organised thus: Aa and Ab are yellow-white main sequence stars of spectral types F4V and F5V and 1.35 and 1.32 solar masses respectively, which orbit each other every 3.27 days. This pair is in a 450-year orbit with star B, a star of spectral type G4V that has around the same mass as the Sun. Star C is a yellow white star of spectral type F3V around 1.41 times as massive as the sun, which has just started brightening and moving off the main sequence. It is in a 1000-year orbit with a pair of stars, Da and Db, a yellow-white main sequence star of spectral type F7V and a red dwarf of spectral type M3V. Da and Db take 14.28-days to orbit each other. Finally the system of stars C and Dab, and the system of stars Aab and B, take over 20,000 years to orbit each other.[2]
The combined light from the whole system results in an integrated V magnitude of 6.9. Published apparent magnitudes for the components vary greatly and some are certainly in error,[2] but components A, B, C, and D are approximately of visual magnitude 8, 10, 9, and 9 respectively.[8] Models of all six components show that Aa and Ab have magnitudes 8.5 and 8.7 respectively while the faint secondary to component D is about 16th magnitude. The CD pair is slightly brighter than the AB pair, although component A is slightly brighter than component C.[2]
Gaia EDR3 catalogues parallaxes for the four resolved stars, all at a distance of 360 light-years (110 pc) with a statistical margin of error of less than a parsec.
The star system has been considered as a possible target for direct imaging searches for exoplanets,[9] but no planets have yet been detected in the system.