Xi Aurigae

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title: "Xi Aurigae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["a-type-main-sequence-stars", "auriga", "bayer-objects", "bright-star-catalogue-objects", "durchmusterung-objects", "flamsteed-objects", "henry-draper-catalogue-objects", "hipparcos-objects"] description: "Star in the constellation Auriga" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Aurigae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Star in the constellation Auriga ::

| image = |image=Auriga constellation map.svg|alt=|float=center|width=280 |label=|position=right |mark=Red circle.svg|mark_width=10|mark_link=ξ Aurigae |x=425|y=10 | caption = Location of ξ Aurigae (circled in red) | epoch = J2000.0 | equinox = J2000.0 (ICRS) | constell = Auriga | ra = | dec = | appmag_v = +5.00 | class = A2 Va | b-v = +0.05 | u-b = +0.12 | r-i = | variable = | radial_v = | prop_mo_ra = −7.049 | prop_mo_dec = +12.959 | pm_footnote = | parallax = 13.3702 | p_error = 0.1670 | parallax_footnote = | absmag_v = +0.64 | source = | mass = 1.96 | radius = 1.1 | luminosity = 49.5 | temperature = | gravity = 3.88 | metal_fe = | rotational_velocity = 62 | age_myr = 174 | names = | Simbad = ksi+Aur

Xi Aurigae is a single, white-hued star in the northern constellation of Auriga. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from ξ Aurigae, and abbreviated Xi Aur or ξ Ari. This star was once considered part of the constellation of Camelopardalis and held the Flamsteed designation 32 Camelopardalis. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.0. The measured annual parallax shift of this star is , which corresponds to a physical distance of 244 ly with a 3 light-year margin of error. At that distance, the visual magnitude of the star is diminished by an extinction of 0.108 due to interstellar dust. The star is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −13 km/s.

This is an A-type main sequence star with a stellar classification of A2 Va. Although it was one of the first stars to be cataloged as a Lambda Boötis star, Murphy et al. (2015) don't consider it to be a member of this population. The star has nearly twice the mass of the Sun and about 1.1 times the Sun's radius. It is an estimated 174 million years old and is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 62 km/s. Xi Aurigae is radiating 49.5 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of around 9,152 K.

References

| title=Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) | edition=Third | display-authors=1 | last1=Pasinetti Fracassini | first1=L. E. | last2=Pastori | first2=L. | last3=Covino | first3=S. | last4=Pozzi | first4=A. | journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics | volume=367 | pages=5211–524 | date=February 2001 | doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20000451 | bibcode=2001A&A...367..521P | arxiv=astro-ph/0012289 | s2cid=425754 | postscript=. }}

| title = A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems | last1 = Eggleton | first1 = P. P. | last2 = Tokovinin | first2=A. A. | journal = Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume = 389 | issue = 2 | pages = 869 | date = 2008 | doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2008MNRAS.389..869E | postscript=. |arxiv = 0806.2878 | s2cid = 14878976 }}

| last1=de Bruijne | first1=J. H. J. | last2=Eilers | first2=A.-C. | title=Radial velocities for the HIPPARCOS-Gaia Hundred-Thousand-Proper-Motion project | journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics | volume=546 | id=A61 | pages=14 | date=October 2012 | doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201219219 | bibcode=2012A&A...546A..61D | arxiv=1208.3048 | s2cid=59451347 | postscript=. }}

| title=An Evaluation of the Membership Probability of 212 λ Boo Stars. I. A Catalogue | display-authors=1 | last1=Murphy | first1=Simon J. | last2=Corbally | first2=Christopher J. | last3=Gray | first3=Richard O. | last4=Cheng | first4=Kwang-Ping | last5=Neff | first5=James E. | last6=Koen | first6=Chris | last7=Kuehn | first7=Charles A. | last8=Newsome | first8=Ian | last9=Riggs | first9=Quinlin | journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia | volume=32 | id=e036 | pages=43 | date=October 2015 | doi=10.1017/pasa.2015.34 | bibcode=2015PASA...32...36M | arxiv=1508.03633 | s2cid=59405545 | postscript=. }}

| title=Gaia's view of the λ Boo star puzzle | postscript=. | last1=Murphy | first1=Simon J. | last2=Paunzen | first2=Ernst | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=466 | issue=1 | pages=546–555 | date=April 2017 | doi=10.1093/mnras/stw3141 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2017MNRAS.466..546M | arxiv=1612.01528| s2cid=119328659

| 27673 | mode=cs2 | postscript=.}}

| last1=David | first1=Trevor J. | last2=Hillenbrand | first2=Lynne A. | title=The Ages of Early-Type Stars: Strömgren Photometric Methods Calibrated, Validated, Tested, and Applied to Hosts and Prospective Hosts of Directly Imaged Exoplanets | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=804 | issue=2 | pages=146 | year=2015 | bibcode=2015ApJ...804..146D | doi=10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/146 | arxiv=1501.03154 | s2cid=33401607 | postscript=. }}

| last1=Johnson | first1=H. L. | last2=Iriarte | first2=B. | last3=Mitchell | first3=R. I. | last4=Wisniewskj | first4=W. Z. | title=UBVRIJKL photometry of the bright stars | journal=Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory | volume=4 | issue=99 | year=1966 | page=99 | bibcode=1966CoLPL...4...99J | postscript=. }}

| last=Wagman | first=M. | postscript=. | title=Flamsteed's Missing Stars | journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy | issue=3 | volume=18 | page=213 | date=August 1987 | bibcode=1987JHA....18..209W | doi=10.1177/002182868701800305 | s2cid=118445625 }}

| title=ksi Aur | access-date=2017-09-28 }}

References

1. {{Cite Gaia DR3. 265322639799154560

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