6 Lyncis is a star in the northern constellation of Lynx,[6] located approximately 179 light years from Earth.[1] It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.86.[2] This object is moving away from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +40 km/s.[2] It has a relatively high proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at the rate of 0.341 arc seconds per annum.[7]
Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Lynx |
Right ascension | 06h 30m 47.1071s[1] |
Declination | +58° 09′ 45.481″[1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 5.86[2] |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | K0.5 IIIb Fe0.5[3] |
B−V color index | 0.934±0.006[2] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | +39.57±0.20[2] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: −30.421±0.098[1] mas/yr Dec.: −338.678±0.071[1] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 18.2668 ± 0.0908 mas[1] |
Distance | 178.6 ± 0.9 ly (54.7 ± 0.3 pc) |
Absolute magnitude (MV) | 2.13[2] |
Details[4] | |
Mass | 1.46±0.02 M☉ |
Radius | 5.2±0.1 R☉ |
Luminosity | 14.9±0.1 L☉ |
Surface gravity (log g) | 3.17±0.03 cgs |
Temperature | 4,994±15 K |
Metallicity [Fe/H] | −0.18±0.04[2] dex |
Rotational velocity (v sin i) | 1.8[5] km/s |
Age | 2.8±0.2 Gyr |
Other designations | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
Exoplanet Archive | data |
This is an aging giant star with a stellar classification of K0.5 IIIb Fe0.5,[3] which indicates it has a mild overabundance of iron in its spectrum. At the age of 2.8 billion years old, it has exhausted the hydrogen at its core, causing it to evolve away from the main sequence. As a consequence, it has expanded to 5.2 times the radius of the Sun although it only has 1.46 times the Sun's mass. The star is radiating 14.9 times the luminosity of the Sun from its swollen photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,994 K.[4] One sub-stellar companion has been identified.[8]
In July 2008, the planet 6 Lyncis b was announced by Bun'ei Sato and collaborators from the Okayama Planet Search Program, along with 14 Andromedae b and 81 Ceti b. The planet was found to have minimum mass of 2.4 Jupiter masses and period of 899 days.[8]
Companion (in order from star) |
Mass | Semimajor axis (AU) |
Orbital period (days) |
Eccentricity | Inclination | Radius |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
b | ≥2.010±0.077 MJ | 2.11±0.11 | 934.3±8.6 | 0.073±0.036 | — | — |