Gamma Cephei

light-years
Proper names: Gamma Cephei, 35 Cephei, Er Rai
Catalog numbers:
     Gliese (Gl) 903, Henry Draper (HD) 222404, Bonner Durchmusterung (BD) +76°928, Hipparcos Input Catalog (HIC) 116727, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) 10818, Fifth Fundamental Catalogue (FK5) 893, Hoffleit Bright Star (HR) 8974, New Suspected Variable (NSV) 14656
Age: 3000 million years — (Maybe. About. Kinda sorta.)
Source for age: Fuhrmann
Heavy element abundance: 114% of Sol
Standard error in heavy element abundance: 20%
Source for heavy element abundance: Strobel [Fe/H] Determinations
Arity: binary
Right Ascension and Declination: 23h39m20.824s, +77°37'56.8" (epoch 2000.0)
Distance from Sol: 44.99 light-years (13.79 parsecs)
Standard error in distance: 0.7121%
Source for distance: Hipparcos
Celestial (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: 9.597, -0.867, 43.94
Galactic (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: -21.14, 37.84, 12.06
Proper motion: 0.171 arcsec/yr (337.4° from north)
Radial Velocity: -43.1 km/sec
Source for proper motion and radial velocity: Gliese
Galactic (U,V,W) velocity components in km/s: 22.82, -38.22, -0.853

What do all these fields mean?

Data for A and B's orbit around one other:
Combined absolute visual magnitude: +2.51
Combined visual luminosity: 8.641 x Sol
Period: 70 years
Semimajor Axis: 22 A.U.s
Eccentricity: 0.4545
Periastron distance: 12.001 A.U.s
Apastron distance: 31.999 A.U.s
Source for orbit data: Fuhrmann
As seen from A:
     At periastron, B would appear as magnitude -16.07
     At apastron, B would appear as magnitude -13.94
As seen from B:
     At periastron, A would appear as magnitude -23.67
     At apastron, A would appear as magnitude -21.54


Component A:
Spectral class: K1e
Luminosity Class: IV
Apparent visual magnitude: +3.21
Absolute visual magnitude: +2.51
Visual luminosity: 8.633 x Sol
Color indices: B-V= +1.03, U-B= +0.94, R-I= +0.34
Diameter: 5.070 x Sol
Source for diameter: Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (Fracassini+ 1988)
Comfort Zone (visual): 2.938 A.U.s
Angular size of star in sky in CZ: 0.919869 degrees
Detected companions: 1
Companion Ab:
     Mass: 1.8 x Jupiter, minimum
     Source for mass: Jim Kaler
     Period: 2.5 years
     Semimajor Axis: 2.1 A.U.s
     Eccentricity: 0.2
     Periastron distance: 1.68 A.U.s
     Apastron distance: 2.52 A.U.s
     Source for orbit data: Jim Kaler


Component B:
Spectral class: M
Luminosity Class: V
Apparent visual magnitude: +10.80
Absolute visual magnitude: +10.10
Visual luminosity: 0.00793 x Sol
Mass: 0.4 x Sol
Source for mass: Fuhrmann
Diameter: 0.5 x Sol
Source for diameter: Fuhrmann
Comfort Zone (visual): 0.0890 A.U.s
Orbital period in CZ: 15.3453 days
Tidal index in CZ: 566.537
Angular size of star in sky in CZ: 2.993485 degrees

light-years
but not more than light-years away
Data for this star system were most recently updated on 30-September-2003.