AE Pictoris

AE Pictoris is an eclipsing binary^[6] star system in the southern constellation of Pictor. This dim, blue-white hued point of light is just barely visible to the naked eye; it has an apparent visual magnitude of 6.09, which drops to magnitude 6.14 during an eclipse.^[13] The system is located around 1,430 light years away from the Sun based on parallax,^[2] and it is receding with a radial velocity of 34 km/s.^[14]

AE Pictoris

A light curve for AE Pictoris, adapted from Pedersen et al. (2019)[1]
Observation data Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation	Pictor
Right ascension	06h 31m 10.63900s[2]
Declination	−61° 52′ 46.3515″[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	6.14[3]
Characteristics
Spectral type	B3V[4]
B−V color index	−0.147±0.006[5]
Variable type	Eclipsing binary[6]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)	34.0±7.4[5] km/s
Proper motion (μ)	RA: −9.142[2] mas/yr Dec.: +12.087[2] mas/yr
Parallax (π)	2.2770±0.0678 mas[2]
Distance	1,430 ± 40 ly (440 ± 10 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)	1.73[5]
Orbit[7]
Period (P)	2.9723 d
Eccentricity (e)	0.10
Periastron epoch (T)	2,431,998.871 JD
Argument of periastron (ω) (secondary)	39.0°
Semi-amplitude (K1) (primary)	119.0 km/s
Details
AE Pic A
Mass	7.1±0.1[8] M☉
Luminosity (bolometric)	2,569[9] L☉
Temperature	17,873[10] K
Metallicity [Fe/H]	3.93[10] dex
Rotation	1.490911 d[11]
Rotational velocity (v sin i)	70[10] km/s
Age	27.7±1.4[8] Myr
AE Pic B
Temperature	11,699[10] K
Metallicity [Fe/H]	4.02[10] dex
Rotational velocity (v sin i)	42[10] km/s
Other designations
AE Pic, CD−61°1394, HD 46792, HIP 31068, HR 2410, SAO 249572[12]
Database references
SIMBAD	data

This is a spectroscopic binary system with an orbital period of 2.97 days and an eccentricity of 0.10. The minimum value of the semimajor axis for the pair is 4.8 Gm (6.9 R_☉).^[7] The secondary star was only recently (in 2023) detected, making it a double-lined spectroscopic binary.^[10] It is classed as a probable eclipsing binary variable (EB:), but with some uncertainty regarding the specific type.^[6] This is a candidate runaway star system, having a peculiar velocity of 24.9+4.9
−5.1 km/s relative to its neighbors.^[8] The visible component is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B3V.^[4] it is 28 million years old with seven^[8] times the mass of the Sun. The star is radiating 2,569 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 18,700 K.^[9]