HD 9578 (HIP 7240)

HD 9578 is a yellow main-sequence star in the constellation Sculptor. At 183 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 8.20. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 13.7 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 1h 33.3m, Dec -38° 14.7'

Common designations: HD 9578, HIP 7240, Gaia DR3 5008967783184322048

HD 9578 has the spectral type G1V. G-type stars are yellow stars of about 5,300 to 6,000 K, the same class as the Sun. Their spectra show strong lines of ionized calcium and many metals. 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 HD 9578 in the sky

HD 9578 lies in Sculptor. With a declination of -38° 14.7', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 52° N. Observers poleward of latitude 52° S see it as circumpolar: it never sets. It is just beyond naked-eye visibility; binoculars will show it easily. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around November, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.

Tabulated data for HD 9578

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	23.32143560° (1h 33.3m)
Declination (J2000)	-38.24501589° (-38° 14.7')
Galactic Longitude	267.27294126°
Galactic Latitude	-75.84000432°
Proper motion RA	-31.34 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	-38.26 mas/yr
Parallax	17.85 ± 0.02 mas
Spectral Type	G1V
Radial Velocity	-3.95 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
B	8.79	5.05
V	8.20	4.46
J	7.16	3.41
H	6.89	3.15
K	6.80	3.06

Colour index B-V: +0.59

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 56.04 pc (183 light years) (0.1% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: 4.46
Transverse velocity: 13.1 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 13.7 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -0.7 pc, -13.7 pc, -54.3 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): 12.9 km/s, -1.7 km/s, 4.4 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.