Beta Cygni

light-years
Proper names: Beta Cygni, Albireo, 6 Cygni
Catalog numbers:
     Aitken Double Star (ADS) 12540
Arity: trinary
Points of interest:
     The apparent visual magnitude of +6 listed for component A2 is just an educated guess, given its spectral and luminosity classes. Components A1 and A2 have a combined apparent visual magnitude of +3.080; they are too close together to be able to measure their visual magnitudes separately.

Right Ascension and Declination: 19h30m43.301s, +27°57'34.83" (epoch 2000.0)
Distance from Sol: 386 light-years (118 parsecs)
Standard error in distance: 6.4%
Source for distance: Hipparcos
Celestial (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: 131, -315, 181
Galactic (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: 178, 341, 28.5

What do all these fields mean?

Data for A1 and A2's orbit around one other:
Combined absolute visual magnitude: -2.28
Combined visual luminosity: 713 x Sol
Comfort Zone (visual) around both: 26.7 A.U.s

Data for (A1-A2) and B's orbit around one other:
Combined absolute visual magnitude: -2.43
Combined visual luminosity: 817 x Sol
Observed Separation: 4107 A.U.s
Source for orbit data: Hoffleit Bright Star
As seen from (A1-A2):
     B would appear as magnitude -13.69
As seen from B:
     (A1-A2) would appear as magnitude -15.79


Component A1:
Proper names: Beta(1) Cygni
Catalog numbers:
     Henry Draper (HD) 183912, Hipparcos Input Catalog (HIC) 95947, Bonner Durchmusterung (BD) +27°3410, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) 87301, Fifth Fundamental Catalogue (FK5) 732, New Suspected Variable (NSV) 12105, Hoffleit Bright Star (HR) 7417, AGK3 Reference (AGK3R) +27°1969
Proper motion: 0.0028 arcsec/yr (135.0° from north)
Radial Velocity: -24 km/sec
Source for proper motion: Fifth Fundamental Catalogue
Source for radial velocity: GCRV (Wilson 1953)
Galactic (U,V,W) velocity components in km/s: -10.6, -21.3, -3.28
Spectral class: K3
Luminosity Class: II+
Apparent visual magnitude: +3.16
Absolute visual magnitude: -2.21
Visual luminosity: 664 x Sol
Diameter: 109 x Sol
Source for diameter: Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (Fracassini+ 1988)
Comfort Zone (visual): 25.8 A.U.s
Angular size of star in sky in CZ: 2.262311 degrees


Component A2:
Spectral class: B9.5
Luminosity Class: V
Apparent visual magnitude: +6.00
Absolute visual magnitude: +0.63
Visual luminosity: 48.6 x Sol
Comfort Zone (visual): 6.97 A.U.s


Component B:
Proper names: Beta(2) Cygni
Catalog numbers:
     Hipparcos Input Catalog (HIC) 95951, Bonner Durchmusterung (BD) +27°3411, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) 87302, Henry Draper (HD) 183914, Hoffleit Bright Star (HR) 7418, AGK3 Reference (AGK3R) +27°1970
Right Ascension and Declination: 19h30m45.38s, +27°57'54.8" (epoch 2000.0)
Distance from Sol: 376 light-years (115 parsecs)
Standard error in distance: 7%
Source for distance: Hipparcos
Celestial (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: 128, -306, 176
Galactic (X,Y,Z) coordinates in ly: 174, 332, 27.7
Proper motion: 0.0051 arcsec/yr (191.3° from north)
Radial Velocity: -18.8 km/sec
Source for proper motion: Catalogue of Components of Double and Multiple stars
Source for radial velocity: Barbier
Galactic (U,V,W) velocity components in km/s: -6.29, -17.8, -2.23
Spectral class: B8
Luminosity Class: Ve
Apparent visual magnitude: +5.12
Absolute visual magnitude: -0.19
Visual luminosity: 104 x Sol
Color indices: B-V= -0.10, U-B= -0.32
Diameter: 3.06 x Sol
Source for diameter: Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (Fracassini+ 1988)
Comfort Zone (visual): 10.2 A.U.s
Angular size of star in sky in CZ: 0.160314 degrees

light-years
but not more than light-years away
Data for this star system were most recently updated on 3-October-2001.