V376 Carinae is a binary star[3] system in the southern constellation of Carina. It has the Bayer designation b1 Carinae; V376 Carinae is the variable star designation. The system is visible to the naked eye as a faint point of light with a combined apparent magnitude of +4.69.[3] The distance to this system from the Sun is approximately 650 light years based on parallax.[2] It is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +27 km/s.[6]
Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Carina |
Right ascension | 08h 56m 58.41666s[2] |
Declination | −59° 13′ 45.6032″[2] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 4.69[3] (4.87 + 6.58)[4] |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | B2V[5] + B9.5V[3] |
B−V color index | −0.182±0.004[6] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | +26.8±2.8[6] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: −8.409±0.406[2] mas/yr Dec.: +8.421±0.322[2] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 5.0495 ± 0.1667 mas[2] |
Distance | 650 ± 20 ly (198 ± 7 pc) |
Absolute magnitude (MV) | −1.64[6] |
Details | |
A | |
Mass | 7.8±0.1[7] M☉ |
Luminosity (bolometric) | 2,998[8] L☉ |
Temperature | 21,150[8] K |
Age | 12.5±1.6[7] Myr |
Other designations | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
The magnitude 4.87[4] primary, designated component A, is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B2V.[5] During a search for Beta Cephei variables in the southern sky, it was initially classed as a very short period variable.[10] However, this variability was not confirmed by subsequent observations.[11] Samus et al. (2017) now suspect it is a constant star that was assigned a variable designation in haste.[12] It has an estimated age of 12.5 million years with 7.8 times the mass of the Sun.[7] The star is radiating nearly three thousand times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 21,150 K.[8]
The companion star, component B, was discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop in 1836.[4] It has a class of B9.5V[3] with an apparent magnitude of +6.58. As of 2010, the secondary had an angular separation of 40.1″ from the primary along a position angle of 76°.[4]