Theta Centauri

Theta Centauri
Location of θ Centauri (circled)
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Centaurus
Right ascension 14h 06m 40.94752s[1]
Declination –36° 22′ 11.8371″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) +2.06[2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Horizontal branch[3]
Spectral type K0 III[4]
U−B color index +0.90[2]
B−V color index +0.99[2]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)+1.3[5] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: –520.53[1] mas/yr
Dec.: –518.06[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)55.45 ± 0.20 mas[1]
Distance58.8 ± 0.2 ly
(18.03 ± 0.07 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)0.87[6]
Details
Mass1.27[7] M☉
Radius10.6[8] R☉
Luminosity60[3] L☉
Surface gravity (log g)2.75[9] cgs
Temperature4,980[9] K
Metallicity [Fe/H]0.03[9] dex
Other designations
Menkent, θ Cen, Theta Cen, 5 Centauri, CD−35° 9260, FK5 520, HD 123139, HIP 68933, HR 5288, SAO 205188, LHS 2858[10]
Database references
SIMBADdata

Theta Centauri or θ Centauri, officially named Menkent (/ˈmɛŋkɛnt/),[11][12] is a single[7] star in the southern constellation of Centaurus, the centaur. With an apparent visual magnitude of +2.06,[2] it is the fourth-brightest member of the constellation. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is about 58.8 light-years (18.0 parsecs) distant from the Sun.[1] It has a relatively high proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at the rate of 0.73 arcsecond/yr.[13] This suggests that Menkent may have originated in the outer disk of the Milky Way and is merely passing through the solar neighborhood.[3]

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  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bakos_et_al_2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).