Gamma Centauri, a white subgiant star in Centaurus

Gamma Centauri (HIP 61932)

Gamma Centauri is a white subgiant star in the constellation Centaurus. At 130 light years away, it is the 65th brightest star in the Earth's sky, where it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 2.20. Gamma Centauri is a multiple-star system. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 37.1 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 21,900 and 26,200 light years from the center of the Galaxy.

Sky position: RA 12h 41.5m, Dec -48° 57.6'

Common designations: Gamma Centauri, HIP 61932, HD 110304, HR 4819

Learn how to find naked-eye stars with:

Stars of the Northern Hemisphere
Deluxe Astronomy Poster Brightest stars in Centaurus:
(list all)

1

| -0.01

) Alpha Centauri A

Rank	Mag.	Star
2	0.61	Hadar
3	1.35	Alpha Centauri B
4	2.06	Menkent

5

| 2.20

) Gamma Centauri

Rank	Mag.	Star
6	2.29	Epsilon Centauri
7	2.33	Eta Centauri
8	2.55	Zeta Centauri
9	2.58	Delta Centauri
10	2.75	Iota Centauri
11	3.11	Lambda Centauri
12	3.13	Kappa Centauri
13	3.41	Nu Centauri
14	3.47	Mu Centauri
15	3.83	Phi Centauri
16	3.85	Tau Centauri
17	3.87	Upsilon-1 Centauri

Galactic Orbit of Gamma Centauri
(compared to the Sun)

E

ccentricity: 8.9% vs. 16.0%

Angle φ : -95.1°vs. 26.0°

Semi-major axis : 7,381 pc vs. 8,686 pc

Semi-minor axis: 7,351 pc vs. 8,574 pc

Focus-to-center

: 658 pcvs. 1,388 pc

Semilatus rectum : 7,322 pc vs. 8,464 pc

Perigalacticon: 6,723 pc vs. 7,297 pc

Apogalacticon

: 8,038 pcvs. 10,074 pc
  Some Tabulated XHIP Data for Gamma Centauri
(see also: SIMBAD)

Astrometry
2007A&A...474..653V

Position	Proper Motion
Right Ascension:	190.38002117° ±0.19 mas	-193.60 ±2.00 mas/yr.
Declination:	-48.95988559° ±0.15 mas	-11.60 ±1.80 mas/yr.
Galactic Longitude:	301.25525966°	-192.99 mas/yr.
Galactic Latitude:	13.87957430°	-19.27 mas/yr.

Parallax: 25.06 ± 0.28 mas

Spectrography

Spectral Type: A1IV+ 2006AJ....132..161G.

Radial Velocity: -5.50 ±1.78 km/s [B rating] 2007AN....328..889K.

Iron Abundance [Fe/H]: n/a

Photometry
 

band	magnitude	Abs. Mag.
U	2.15	-0.86
B	2.18	-0.83
V	2.20	-0.80
R
I	2.19	-0.81
J	2.05	-0.95
H	2.18	-0.82
K	2.10	-0.90

B-V: -0.02 V-I: +0.01

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 39.90 pc (1.1% margin of error)

Galactocentric distance: 7,380 pc

Transverse velocity: 36.7 km/s

3D heliocentric position and motion:

toward:	Galactic center	Galactic rotation	North Galactic Pole
Position ( X, Y, Z)	20.1 pc	-33.1 pc	9.6 pc
Velocity (U, V, W)	-33.5 km/s	-15.1 km/s	-4.9 km/s