Beta Pictoris

light-years
Proper names: Beta Pictoris
Catalog numbers:
     Gliese (Gl) 219, Henry Draper (HD) 39060, Cordoba Durchmusterung (CD) -51°1620, Hipparcos Input Catalog (HIC) 27321, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) 234134, Hoffleit Bright Star (HR) 2020
Arity: singular
Points of interest:
     This star is surrounded by a 1500-A.U. disc of gas and dust.  In January 1998, the Hubble Space Telescope resolved the shapes of two bulges in this disc which almost certainly indicate the presence of either planets or brown dwarfs.

Right Ascension and Declination: 5h47m17.089s, -51°3'59.4" (epoch 2000.0)
Distance from Sol: 62.88 light-years (19.28 parsecs)
Standard error in distance: 0.9737%
Source for distance: Hipparcos
Celestial (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: 2.191, 39.45, -48.91
Galactic (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: -10.93, -53.11, -31.84
Proper motion: 0.081 arcsec/yr (4.7° from north)
Radial Velocity: 20 km/sec
Source for proper motion and radial velocity: Gliese
Galactic (U,V,W) velocity components in km/s: -10.73, -16.18, -8.831

What do all these fields mean?


Spectral class: A5
Luminosity Class: V
Apparent visual magnitude: +3.85
Absolute visual magnitude: +2.42
Visual luminosity: 9.337 x Sol
Color indices: B-V= +0.17, U-B= +0.09, R-I= +0.09
Mass: 1.6 x Sol
Diameter: 1.399 x Sol
Source for diameter: Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (Fracassini+ 1988)
Comfort Zone (visual): 3.056 A.U.s
Orbital period in CZ: 4.2228 years
Tidal index in CZ: 0.056079
Angular size of star in sky in CZ: 0.244007 degrees

light-years
but not more than light-years away
Data for this star system were most recently updated on 4-April-2001.