Iota Chamaeleontis

ι Chamaeleontis, Latinized as Iota Chamaeleontis, is a single^[8] star in the southern circumpolar constellation of Chamaeleon. It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, yellow-white hued point of light, having an apparent magnitude of about 5.3.^[2] Based upon parallax measurements,^[1] this star is around 188 light years away from the Sun, but it is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −4 km/s.^[1]

Iota Chamaeleontis

Location of ι Chamaeleontis (circled)
Observation data Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation	Chamaeleon
Right ascension	09h 24m 09.22580s[1]
Declination	−80° 47′ 12.7597″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	5.34[2]
Characteristics
Spectral type	F3/5 III/V[3]
U−B color index	+0.01[4]
B−V color index	+0.454±0.003[2]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)	−3.57±0.66[1] km/s
Proper motion (μ)	RA: -138.690[1] mas/yr Dec.: +134.928[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)	17.3878±0.0925 mas[1]
Distance	187.6 ± 1.0 ly (57.5 ± 0.3 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)	+1.52[2]
Details
Radius	3.63+0.10 −0.13[1] R☉
Luminosity	20.244±0.136[1] L☉
Temperature	6,429+63 −90[1] K
Metallicity [Fe/H]	−0.04[5] dex
Rotational velocity (v sin i)	129.7[6] km/s
Age	1.2±0.1[2] Gyr
Other designations
ι Cha, CD−80°329, FK5 2753, GC 13066, HD 82554, HIP 46107, HR 3795, SAO 258530[7]
Database references
SIMBAD	data

Spectra of the star taken in different years have been given types of F3IV/V and F5III, leading to a mean published type of F3/5 III/V, with the suspicion that the spectrum is variable. It is an F-type star, likely an evolving subgiant.^[9] It is 1.2^[2] billion years old with 3.6^[1] times the Sun's radius. The star has a high rate of spin with a projected rotational velocity of 130 km/s,^[6] which is giving it an oblate shape with an equatorial bulge some 9% larger than the polar radius.^[10] It is radiating over 20^[1] times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 6,429 K.^[1] An infrared excess suggests a circumstellar disk of dust is orbiting at a distance of 8.3 AU from the star with a mean temperature of 200 K.^[11]