Eta Cygni (η Cygni) is a star in the northern constellation of Cygnus. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.889.[2] The star lies along the main body of the constellation, about midway between Gamma Cygni and Albireo.[8] Based upon an annual parallax shift of 24.17 mas,[1] it is located 135 light years from the Sun.
At an age of about 3.3[6] billion years, this is an evolved red clump[9] giant star with a stellar classification of K0 III.[3] It is presently on the horizontal branch and is generating energy through the nuclear fusion of helium at its core. The star has about 1.59[6] times the mass of the Sun and has expanded to 11[4] It radiates 52.5 times the solar luminosity from its outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of 4,783 K.[6]
Eta Cygni has five visual companions,[10] of which only component B appears to be physically associated. This magnitude 12.0 star lies at an angular separation of 7.80 arc seconds along a position angle of 206°, as of 2007.[11]
^ abcMassarotti, Alessandro; et al. (January 2008), "Rotational and Radial Velocities for a Sample of 761 HIPPARCOS Giants and the Role of Binarity", The Astronomical Journal, 135 (1): 209–231, Bibcode:2008AJ....135..209M, doi:10.1088/0004-6256/135/1/209, S2CID 121883397.
^Puzeras, E.; et al. (October 2010), "High-resolution spectroscopic study of red clump stars in the Galaxy: iron-group elements", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 408 (2): 1225–1232, arXiv:1006.3857, Bibcode:2010MNRAS.408.1225P, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17195.x, S2CID 44228180.
^Mason, B. D.; et al. (2014), "The Washington Visual Double Star Catalog", The Astronomical Journal, 122 (6): 3466–3471, Bibcode:2001AJ....122.3466M, doi:10.1086/323920.
^Eggleton, P. P.; Tokovinin, A. A. (September 2008), "A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 389 (2): 869–879, arXiv:0806.2878, Bibcode:2008MNRAS.389..869E, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x, S2CID 14878976.
External links[edit]
Kaler, James B. (September 7, 2012), "Eta Cygni", Stars, University of Illinois, retrieved 2017-02-19.