Notes
- ↑ From , where is the luminosity, is the radius, is the effective surface temperature and is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant.
| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Right ascension | 12h 53m 11.1564s [1] |
| Declination | −03° 33′ 11.1482″ [1] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 6.11 |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | F6V [2] |
| B−V color index | 0.49 [2] |
| Astrometry | |
| Proper motion (μ) | RA: −262.638±0.113 [1] mas/yr Dec.: −3.853±0.100 [1] mas/yr |
| Parallax (π) | 30.0702 ± 0.0541 mas [1] |
| Distance | 108.5 ± 0.2 ly (33.26 ± 0.06 pc) |
| Details | |
| Mass | 1.18 ± 0.12 [2] M☉ |
| Radius | 1.45 ± 0.07 [2] R☉ |
| Luminosity | 3.48 [note 1] L☉ |
| Temperature | 6557 ± 96 [2] K |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.07 [2] dex |
| Age | 1.9+0.6 −0.7 [2] Gyr |
| Other designations | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
38 Virginis is an F-type main sequence star in the constellation of Virgo. It is around 108 light years distant from the Earth. [2] [1]
The name 38 Virginis derives from the star being the 38th star in order of right ascension catalogued in the constellation Virgo by Flamsteed in his star catalogue. The designation b of 38 Virginis b derives from the order of discovery and is given to the first planet orbiting a given star, followed by the other lowercase letters of the alphabet. [4] In the case of 38 Virginis, only one was discovered, which was designated b. [2]
38 Virginis is an F-type main sequence star that is approximately 118% the mass of and 145% the radius of the Sun. It has a temperature of 6557 K and is about 1.9 billion years old. In comparison, the Sun is about 4.6 billion years old [5] and has a temperature of 5778 K. [6]
The star is metal-rich, with a metallicity ([Fe/H]) of 0.07 dex, or 117% the solar amount. Its luminosity (L☉) is 3.48 times that of the Sun.
A companion star is cataloged in the CCDM at a separation of half an arcsecond. [7]
| Companion (in order from star) | Mass | Semimajor axis (AU) | Orbital period (days) | Eccentricity | Inclination | Radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | 4.51 ± 0.5 MJ | 1.82 ± 0.07 | 825.9 ± 6.2 | 0.03 ± 0.04 | — | — |
The star is known to host one exoplanet, 38 Virginis b, discovered in 2016. This planet has a relatively low eccentricity out of any long-period giant exoplanet discovered, with an eccentricity of 0.03. The planet has a mass of around 4.5 times that of the planet Jupiter. [2] Its orbit very likely puts it and any moons it may have in the habitable zone of its star. [8]
Epsilon Indi, Latinized from ε Indi, is a star system located at a distance of approximately 12 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Indus. The star has an orange hue and is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.674. It consists of a K-type main-sequence star, ε Indi A, and two brown dwarfs, ε Indi Ba and ε Indi Bb, in a wide orbit around it. The brown dwarfs were discovered in 2003. ε Indi Ba is an early T dwarf (T1) and ε Indi Bb a late T dwarf (T6) separated by 0.6 arcseconds, with a projected distance of 1460 AU from their primary star.
GJ 1061 is a red dwarf star located 12 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Horologium. Even though it is a relatively nearby star, it has an apparent visual magnitude of about 13, so it can only be seen with at least a moderately-sized telescope.
47 Ursae Majoris, formally named Chalawan, is a yellow dwarf star approximately 45.3 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major. As of 2011, three extrasolar planets are believed to orbit the star.
HD 150706 is a star with an orbiting exoplanet in the northern constellation of Ursa Minor. It is located 92 light years away from the Sun, based on parallax measurements. At that distance, it is not visible to the unaided eye. However, with an apparent visual magnitude of 7.02, it is an easy target for binoculars. It is located only about 10° from the northern celestial pole so it is always visible in the northern hemisphere except for near the equator. Likewise, it is never visible in most of the southern hemisphere. The star is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −17.2 km/s.
HD 20367 is a star in the constellation of Aries, close to the border with the Perseus constellation. It is a yellow-white hued star that is a challenge to view with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 6.40. Based upon parallax measurements, it is located 85 light years from the Sun. It is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +6.5 km/s. Based upon its movement through space, it is a candidate member of the Ursa Major Moving Group of co-moving stars that probably share a common origin.
HD 188015 is a yellow-hued star with an exoplanetary companion in the northern constellation of Vulpecula. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.24, making it an 8th magnitude star, and thus is too faint to be readily visible to the naked eye. The distance to this star can be estimated through parallax measurements, which yield a separation of 165.6 light years from the Sun.
HD 28185 is a yellow dwarf star similar to the Sun located 128 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. The designation HD 28185 refers to its entry in the Henry Draper catalogue. The star is known to possess one long-period extrasolar planet.
TW Hydrae is a T Tauri star approximately 196 light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. TW Hydrae is about 80% of the mass of the Sun, but is only about 5-10 million years old. The star appears to be accreting from a protoplanetary disk of dust and gas, oriented face-on to Earth, which has been resolved in images from the ALMA observatory. TW Hydrae is accompanied by about twenty other low-mass stars with similar ages and spatial motions, comprising the "TW Hydrae association" or TWA, one of the closest regions of recent "fossil" star-formation to the Sun.
Gliese 667 is a triple-star system in the constellation Scorpius lying at a distance of about 7.2 parsecs from Earth. All three of the stars have masses smaller than the Sun. There is a 12th-magnitude star close to the other three, but it is not gravitationally bound to the system. To the naked eye, the system appears to be a single faint star of magnitude 5.89.
HD 99109 is an orange-hued star with an exoplanetary companion in the constellation of Leo. It has an absolute visual magnitude of +9.10, which is too faint to be visible to the naked eye. The distance to this system is 179 light-years based on parallax, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +33 km/s. The star is one and half degrees away from the celestial equator to the south.
HD 23596 is a star with an orbiting exoplanet companion in the constellation Perseus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 7.25, which is too dim to be viewed with the naked eye. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of 169 light years from the Sun. The system is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −10 km/s.
TW Hydrae b is a likely extrasolar planet orbiting the young T Tauri star TW Hydrae approximately 176 light-years (54 parsecs, or nearly 1.665×1016 km) away in the constellation of Hydra. It is likely a Neptune-like planet orbiting at a distance of nearly 22 AU from its star.
HD 85512 is a solitary K-type main-sequence star 36.8 light-years away in the constellation Vela. It is about 1 billion years older than the Sun. It is extremely chromospherically inactive, only slightly more active than Tau Ceti. It exhibits a long-term variability and was thought to host one low-mass planet, although this is now doubtful.
HD 221287 b, also known as Pipitea, is an exoplanet that orbits HD 221287, approximately 173 light years away in the constellation of Tucana. This planet has mass >3.12 MJ and orbits in a habitable zone at 1.25 AUs from the star, taking 1.25 years to orbit at 29.9 km/s around the star. Dominique Naef discovered this planet in early 2007 by using HARPS spectrograph located in Chile.
HD 148156 is a star with an orbiting exoplanet in the southern constellation of Norma. It is located at a distance of 186 light years away from the Sun, but is drifting closer with a radial velocity of –1.8 km/s. The star has an apparent visual magnitude of 7.69, which is too dim to be visible to the naked eye. A survey in 2015 ruled out the existence of any stellar companions at projected distances from 49 to 345 astronomical units.
Gliese 667 Cc is an exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 667 C, which is a member of the Gliese 667 triple star system, approximately 23.62 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The exoplanet was found by using the radial velocity method, from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in the spectrum of the planet's parent star.
11 Comae Berenices is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices, located in the sky, east and slightly north of Denebola in Leo, but not nearly as far east as ε Virginis in Virgo. It is about a degree from the elliptical galaxy M85 and two degrees north of the spiral galaxy M100. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 10.7104 mas, the star is located 305 light years away from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.72. This body is moving away from the Sun with a heliocentric radial velocity of +44 km/s.
HD 109271 is a wide binary star system in the constellation of Virgo. The brighter member of the binary has a pair of orbiting exoplanets. With an apparent visual magnitude of 8.05, it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Parallax measurements made by Gaia put the star at a distance of 181 light-years away from the Sun, but it is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −5 km/s. The system shows a high proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at an angular rate of 0.232 arcsec yr−1.
RR Caeli is an eclipsing binary star system, located 69 light-years from Earth in the constellation Caelum. It is made up of a red dwarf star and a white dwarf, which complete an orbit around each other every seven hours. There is evidence of two circumbinary planets orbiting even further away.
38 Virginis b is a super-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the star 38 Virginis about 108.5 light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The exoplanet was found by using the radial velocity method, from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in the spectrum of the planet's parent star.
