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Epsilon Pyxidis
Quadruple star system in the constellation Pyxis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Epsilon Pyxidis (ε Pyxidis) is quadruple[11] star system in the southern constellation of Pyxis. It is faintly visible to the naked eye, having a combined apparent visual magnitude of +5.60.[2] Based upon an annual parallax shift of 15.39 mas as seen from Earth,[1] it is located around 212 light years from the Sun. The system is deemed to be a member of the Sirius supercluster of stars that share a common motion through space.[5]
The primary, component A, is a white-hued A-type subgiant star with a stellar classification of A4 IV.[3] It is a microvariable, showing a 0.0056 change in magnitude with a frequency of 0.16245 times per day.[12] Epsilon Pyxidis has been catalogued as an Am star,[2] although this remains uncertain.[13] It has double[6] the mass of the Sun and radiates 19[7] times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 6,368 K.[8]
In addition to a close companion of unknown type at an angular separation of 0.17 arc seconds, the primary shares an orbit with a binary star system, components B and C, that lie at an angular separation of 17.8 arc seconds. At the estimated distance of this system, this corresponds to a projected separation of around 1,150 AU.[6] The B/C pair consist of visual magnitude 10.5 and 10.8 stars with a mean separation of 0.3 arc seconds.[11] They have estimated mass of 90% and 95% that of the Sun, respectively.[6]
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