60 Cancri is a star in the zodiac constellation Cancer, located about 850 light years away from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.44.[2] 60 Cancri is situated near the ecliptic, so it is subject to the occasional occultation by the Moon.[7] It is moving away from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +25 km/s.[1]
Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Cancer |
Right ascension | 08h 55m 55.54693s[1] |
Declination | +11° 37′ 33.6990″[1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | +5.44[2] |
Characteristics | |
Evolutionary stage | giant |
Spectral type | K5 III[3][2][4] |
B−V color index | 1.462±0.004[2] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | +25.38±0.16[1] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: −15.443[1] mas/yr Dec.: −13.539[1] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 3.8596 ± 0.1340 mas[1] |
Distance | 850 ± 30 ly (259 ± 9 pc) |
Details[5] | |
Mass | 1.42±0.45 M☉ |
Radius | 54[6] R☉ |
Luminosity | 669.87[2] L☉ |
Surface gravity (log g) | 1.28±0.11 cgs |
Temperature | 4,150±92 K |
Metallicity [Fe/H] | −0.01±0.05 dex |
Age | 1.15+0.67 −0.43 Gyr |
Other designations | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
This is an aging giant star with a stellar classification of K5 III,[3] indicating it has exhausted the hydrogen at its core and evolved off the main sequence. It is a suspected variable star of unknown type.[8] The interferometry-measured angular diameter of the primary component, after correcting for limb darkening, is 1.94±0.02 mas,[9] which, at its estimated distance, equates to a physical radius of about 54 times the radius of the Sun.[6] It is around 1.15 billion years old with 1.4 times the mass of the Sun.[5] The star is radiating 670[2] times the Sun's luminosity from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,150 K.[5]