Nu Andromedae, a blue-white main-sequence star in Andromeda
Nu Andromedae is a blue-white main-sequence star in the constellation Andromeda. At 564 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.53.
Nu Andromedae (HIP 3881)
Nu Andromedae is a blue-white main-sequence star in the constellation Andromeda. At 564 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.53. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 33.5 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 0h 49.8m, Dec +41° 4.7'
Common designations: Nu Andromedae, 35 Andromedae, HR 226, HD 4727, HIP 3881, Gaia DR3 375010813139050368
Nu Andromedae has the spectral type B5V. 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 Nu Andromedae in the sky
Nu Andromedae lies in Andromeda. With a declination of +41° 4.7', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 49° S. Observers poleward of latitude 49° N see it as circumpolar: it never sets. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around October, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for Nu Andromedae
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 12.45352635° (0h 49.8m) |
| Declination (J2000) | 41.07891089° (+41° 4.7') |
| Galactic Longitude | 122.60236714° |
| Galactic Latitude | -21.79179763° |
| Proper motion RA | 21.71 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -18.69 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 5.79 ± 0.19 mas |
| Spectral Type | B5V |
| Radial Velocity | -23.90 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| U | 3.80 | -2.39 |
| B | 4.38 | -1.81 |
| V | 4.53 | -1.66 |
| R | 4.56 | -1.63 |
| I | 4.71 | -1.48 |
| J | 4.85 | -1.34 |
| H | 4.92 | -1.27 |
| K | 4.93 | -1.26 |
Colour index B-V: -0.15
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 172.81 pc (564 light years) (3.2% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -1.66
- Transverse velocity: 23.5 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 33.5 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -86.5 pc, 135.2 pc, -64.2 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): 0.1 km/s, -33.0 km/s, -5.5 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.