Xi Aurigae

Xi Aurigae is a single,^[9] 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.^[10] It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.0.^[3] The measured annual parallax shift of this star is 13.37 mas,^[2] which corresponds to a physical distance of 244 light-years (75 parsecs) 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.^[11] The star is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −13 km/s.^[5]

Xi Aurigae

Observation data Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
Constellation	Auriga[1]
Right ascension	05h 54m 50.76694s[2]
Declination	+55° 42′ 25.0802″[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	+5.00[3]
Characteristics
Spectral type	A2 Va[4]
U−B color index	+0.12[3]
B−V color index	+0.05[3]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)	−13.3±2.4[5] km/s
Proper motion (μ)	RA: −7.049 mas/yr[2] Dec.: +12.959 mas/yr[2]
Parallax (π)	13.3702±0.1670 mas[2]
Distance	244 ± 3 ly (74.8 ± 0.9 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)	+0.64[1]
Details[6]
Mass	1.96 M☉
Radius	1.1[7] R☉
Luminosity	49.5[1] L☉
Surface gravity (log g)	3.88 cgs
Temperature	9,152±311 K
Metallicity [Fe/H]	−0.36±0.04[1] dex
Rotational velocity (v sin i)	62 km/s
Age	174 Myr
Other designations
ξ Ari, 30 Aurigae, BD+55°1027, FK5 1157, GC 7404, HD 39283, HIP 27949, HR 2029, SAO 25450, PPM 30117[8]
Database references
SIMBAD	data

This is an A-type main sequence star with a stellar classification of A2 Va.^[4] 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.^[4] The star has nearly twice^[6] the mass of the Sun and about 1.1^[7] times the Sun's radius. It is an estimated 174^[6] million years old and is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 62 km/s.^[6] Xi Aurigae is radiating 49.5^[1] times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of around 9,152 K.^[6]