Alpha Mensae

Star type
g G5V

Distance from Earth
g 28.58 ly

Star Service No.
g NA

Age
g NA

Diameter/Mass/Temp (xSol)
g 84% to 91%; 87.3%; NA

Brightness (xSol)
g 62.1%-80%

Metallicity
g 102%

Comparison to Sol
g See chart (similar to Sun)

Picture of star
g NA

Star system features
g Has a red dwarf companion star at a distance of 3.05 arcseconds (a projected separation of roughly 30 AU)
Known planets
g None known but one of the top 100 target stars for NASA's planned Terrestrial Planet Finder

Habitable zone
g Orbit of an Earth-like planet (with liquid water) around this star would be centered around 0.91 AU - between the orbital distances of Venus and Earth in the Solar System - with an orbital period of nearly 342 days.

Orbital map
g NA

View from star
g NA

Nearby stars
(Star systems with 10 light years)
g Hip 31293: 4.6 ly
g Hip 31292: 5.9 ly
g CP(D)-69 177: 8.6 ly
g LHS 263/GJ 1123: 8.8 ly
g LHS 205 / GJ 1077: 9.8 ly

Map locating star system
g NA

Location in Earth sky
g Lies in the northeastern part of Constellation Mensa, the Table Mountain, west of Zeta Volantis, southwest of Gamma2 Volantis, and south of the Large Magellanic Cloud; best visible from higher latitudes of the southern hemisphere, yet can also be seen, though low in the sky, from just north of the Equator when near its daily arc's highest point, the culmination

Other names
g Alp Men, Alf Men, HR 2261, Gl 231, Hip 29271, HD 43834, CP(D)-74 374, SAO 256274, FK5 239 and LTT 2490

Sci-fi mentions
g In "Star Trek" universe, is in Romulan Neutral Zone
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