VV Orionis, a blue-white main-sequence star in Orion
VV Orionis is a blue-white main-sequence star in the constellation Orion. At 1,440 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.34.
VV Orionis (HIP 26063)
VV Orionis is a blue-white main-sequence star in the constellation Orion. At 1,440 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.34. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 22.5 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 5h 33.5m, Dec -1° 9.4'
Common designations: VV Orionis, HR 1868, HD 36695, HIP 26063, Gaia DR3 3217626018825418752
VV Orionis has the spectral type B1V+B4.5V. B-type stars are hot (about 10,000 to 30,000 K), luminous and blue-white. They are massive, short-lived stars, typically only tens of millions of years old, and are common in young clusters and OB associations. Its luminosity class V means it is a main-sequence (dwarf) star, still fusing hydrogen into helium in its core like the Sun.
How to find VV Orionis in the sky
VV Orionis lies in Orion. With a declination of -1° 9.4', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 89° N. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around January, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for VV Orionis
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 83.38102706° (5h 33.5m) |
| Declination (J2000) | -1.15607207° (-1° 9.4') |
| Galactic Longitude | 204.83709086° |
| Galactic Latitude | -17.81280243° |
| Proper motion RA | -1.09 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -1.18 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 2.27 ± 0.11 mas |
| Spectral Type | B1V+B4.5V |
| Radial Velocity | 22.20 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| U | 4.26 | -3.96 |
| B | 5.16 | -3.06 |
| V | 5.34 | -2.88 |
| R | 5.39 | -2.83 |
| I | 5.59 | -2.63 |
| J | 5.75 | -2.47 |
| H | 5.82 | -2.41 |
| K | 5.86 | -2.36 |
Colour index B-V: -0.18
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 441.42 pc (1,440 light years) (5.0% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -2.88
- Transverse velocity: 3.4 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 22.5 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -381.4 pc, -176.5 pc, -135.0 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -17.8 km/s, -9.5 km/s, -9.8 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.