53 Cancri is a variable star in the zodiac constellation Cancer, located around 960 light years from the Sun. It has the variable star designation BO Cancri; 53 Cancri is the Flamsteed designation. This object is a challenge to view with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude around 6. It is around 960 light years away.
Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Cancer |
Right ascension | 08h 52m 28.58850s[2] |
Declination | +28° 15′ 32.9851″[2] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 5.9 - 6.4[3] |
Characteristics | |
Evolutionary stage | red giant |
Spectral type | M3 III[4] |
B−V color index | 1.552±0.010[4] |
Variable type | SRb[3] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | +13.82±0.29[4] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: −15.212[2] mas/yr Dec.: −7.961[2] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 3.4133 ± 0.1685 mas[2] |
Distance | 960 ± 50 ly (290 ± 10 pc) |
Details | |
Radius | 87[2] R☉ |
Luminosity | 1,175[2] L☉ |
Temperature | 3,622[2] K |
Other designations | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
The star is moving further away from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +14 km/s.[4] 53 Cancri is an aging red giant on the asymptotic giant branch[6] and has a stellar classification of M3 III.[4] It has expanded to 87 times the radius of the Sun, and its bolometric luminosity is over a thousand times higher than the Sun's at an effective temperature of 3,622 K.[2]
53 Cancri is a semiregular variable that varies between magnitude 5.9 and 6.4 with a period of 27 days.[3] There is a suspected second period of 270 days.[7]