Sunday, January 9, 2011

70 Virginis

Star type
g G2.5 - G4Va

Distance from Earth
g 59.1 ly

Star Service No.
g NA

Age
g 9 Gya (probably more evolved than Sol)

Diameter/Mass/Temp (xSol)
g 200%-250%; 90%; NA

Brightness (xSol)
g 292%

Metallicity
g 92%

Comparison to Sol
g NA

Picture of star
g NA

Star system features
g NA

Known planets
g b: Initially, planet b was thought to be 7.4 times Jupiter's mass, with an upper mass limit of 38 Jupiter masses. moving around the star at an average distance of only 0.48 AUs (a semi-major axis around Mercury's orbital distance) in a highly elliptical orbit (e=0.40) that takes almost 167 days to complete. Subsequent astrometric analysis, however, suggests that planet b may have as much as 27 times the mass of Jupiter with an inclination of 16.1° from Earth's line of sight. Thus, the planet is probably an extremely dim brown dwarf, substellar companion.
g Preliminary infrared observations indicate that star has a circumstellar dust disk generated by collisions between Kuiper-Belt type objects.

Habitable zone
g The orbit of an Earth-like planet (with liquid water) around the star may be centered around 1.7 AU - between the orbital distances of Mars and the Main Asteroid Belt in the Solar System - with an orbital period around 2.1 years. However, the presence of planet b at its orbital distance may have disrupted the development of an Earth-type planet in the water zone.
g If planet b is truly a planet, given its distance from the star, a moon with liquid water could orbit it.

Orbital map
g See animation

View from star
g NA

Nearby stars
(Star systems with 10 light years)
g L 1194-26: 4.5 ly
g BD+09 2776: 5.7 ly
g LTT 18350: 7.5 ly
g G 63-54: 8.1 ly
g LTT 13826: 8.1 ly
g Wolf 515: 8.3 ly
g Tau Boötis AB: 9.9 ly
g V 150: 9.9 ly
g HR 5273 A (G8 V): 10 ly
g BD+03 2766 (G5 V): 12 ly
g BD+3 2765 AB (G5 V): 13 ly
g Diadem ABC: 13 ly
g HR 4864 (G7 V): 15 ly
g Hip 63383 (G V): 18 ly
g HR 5384 (G1 V): 19 ly

Map locating star system
g NA

Location in Earth sky
g Lies at the north central edge of Constellation Virgo, northeast of Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis)
g See chart
g See photo

Other names
g 70 Vir, HR 5072, Gl 512.1, Hip 65721, HD 117176, BD+14 2621, SAO 100582, FK5 1349, Wo 9446, LHS 2740, LTT 13918, and LFT 1009

Sci-fi mentions
g NA

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