V Centauri

This article is about V Centauri. Not to be confused with v Centauri.
V Centauri

A light curve for V Centauri, plotted from Hipparcos data[1]
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Centaurus
Right ascension 14h 32m 33.0833s[2]
Declination −56° 53′ 15.774″[2]
Apparent magnitude (V) 6.42 - 7.22[3]
Characteristics
Spectral type F5 Ib/II[4]
B−V color index 0.87[5]
Variable type Classical Cepheid[3]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)−18.90 ± 1.4[6] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −6.697[2] mas/yr
Dec.: −7.068[2] mas/yr
Parallax (π)1.3898 ± 0.0221 mas[2]
Distance2,350 ± 40 ly
(720 ± 10 pc)
Details
Mass4.3[7] M☉
Radius40[2] R☉
Luminosity1,657[8] L☉
Surface gravity (log g)1.89[2] cgs
Temperature5,500[8] K
Metallicity [Fe/H]+0.12[9] dex
Age103[10] Myr
Other designations
V Cen, CD−56°5479, HD 127297, HIP 71116, HR 5421, SAO 241777[5]
Database references
SIMBADdata

V Centauri (V Cen) is a Classical Cepheid variable, a type of variable star, in the constellation Centaurus. It is approximately 2,350 light-years (720 parsecs) away based on parallax.

V Centauri varies regularly between visual magnitudes 4.2 and 7.2 every 5.5 days. It is classified as a Cepheid variable on the basis of its light variations, with the brightness increase from minimum to maximum taking only a third of the time of the decrease from maximum to minimum. Cepheids are pulsating variable stars and V Centauri expands and contracts over its pulsation cycle as well as changing temperature.[3]

According to the South African Astronomical Observatory, the chemical composition was derived as being high in sodium (Na) and aluminium (Al) and low in magnesium (Mg).[11] Following a normal composition for a Cepheid star, V Cen does not have any unusual characteristics. V Centauri's composition was observed alongside six other Classical Cepheid variable stars with the support of Russian, Chilean, and Ukrainian observatories.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference HipDataAccess was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  3. ^ a b c Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1: B/gcvs. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
  4. ^ Houk, N.; Cowley, A. P. (1975). "University of Michigan Catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars. Volume I. Declinations -90°.0 to -53°.0". Michigan Catalogue of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD Stars. 1. Bibcode:1975mcts.book.....H.
  5. ^ a b "V* V Cen". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg.
  6. ^ Gontcharov, G. A. (2006). "Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities for 35 495 Hipparcos stars in a common system". Astronomy Letters. 32 (11): 759–771. arXiv:1606.08053. Bibcode:2006AstL...32..759G. doi:10.1134/S1063773706110065. S2CID 119231169.
  7. ^ Marconi, Marcella; et al. (July 2020). "Predicted Masses of Galactic Cepheids in the Gaia Data Release 2". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 898 (1): L7. arXiv:2006.16610. Bibcode:2020ApJ...898L...7M. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aba12b. S2CID 220265392. L7.
  8. ^ a b Groenewegen, M. A. T. (2020). "Analysing the spectral energy distributions of Galactic classical Cepheids". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 635: A33. arXiv:2002.02186. Bibcode:2020A&A...635A..33G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201937060. S2CID 211043995.
  9. ^ Ripepi, V.; Catanzaro, G.; Clementini, G.; De Somma, G.; Drimmel, R.; Leccia, S.; Marconi, M.; Molinaro, R.; Musella, I.; Poggio, E. (2022). "Classical Cepheid period-Wesenheit-metallicity relation in the Gaia bands". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 659: A167. arXiv:2201.01126. Bibcode:2022A&A...659A.167R. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142649. S2CID 245668845.
  10. ^ Skowron, D. M.; Skowron, J.; Mróz, P.; Udalski, A.; Pietrukowicz, P.; Soszyński, I.; Szymański, M. K.; Poleski, R.; Kozłowski, S.; Ulaczyk, K.; Rybicki, K.; Iwanek, P.; . Wrona, M.; Gromadzki, M. (2019). "Mapping the Northern Galactic Disk Warp with Classical Cepheids". Acta Astronomica. 69 (4): 305. arXiv:1912.11142. Bibcode:2019AcA....69..305S. doi:10.32023/0001-5237/69.4.1. S2CID 209460868.
  11. ^ a b Usenko, I. A.; Kniazev, A. Yu; Berdnikov, L. N.; Kravtsov, V. V.; Fokin, A. B. (2013-07-01). "Spectroscopic studies of southern-hemisphere Cepheids: Six objects in Centaurus (V Cen, V737 Cen) and Sagittarius (BB Sgr, W Sgr, X Sgr, Y Sgr)". Astronomy Letters. 39 (7): 432–445. Bibcode:2013AstL...39..432U. doi:10.1134/S1063773713070074. ISSN 1063-7737. S2CID 121213614.