HD 131669, an orange giant star in Virgo
HD 131669 is an orange giant star in the constellation Virgo. At 1,876 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 8.29.
HD 131669 (HIP 72988)
HD 131669 is an orange giant star in the constellation Virgo. At 1,876 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 8.29. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 83.6 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 14h 54.9m, Dec +2° 25.1'
Common designations: HD 131669, HIP 72988, Gaia DR3 1154283047895139840
HD 131669 has the spectral type K4III. K-type stars are orange stars with surface temperatures of about 3,900 to 5,300 K. Their spectra are rich in neutral metal lines and, in the cooler examples, molecular bands. Its luminosity class III marks it as a giant: an evolved star that has left the main sequence and swollen to many times its original size.
How to find HD 131669 in the sky
HD 131669 lies in Virgo. With a declination of +2° 25.1', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 88° S. It is just beyond naked-eye visibility; binoculars will show it easily. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around May, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for HD 131669
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 223.73381109° (14h 54.9m) |
| Declination (J2000) | 2.41866977° (+2° 25.1') |
| Galactic Longitude | 358.34907680° |
| Galactic Latitude | 51.48404306° |
| Proper motion RA | -21.40 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -4.55 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 1.74 ± 0.02 mas |
| Spectral Type | K4III |
| Radial Velocity | -58.58 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| B | 9.82 | 1.02 |
| V | 8.29 | -0.51 |
| J | 5.78 | -3.02 |
| H | 5.12 | -3.68 |
| K | 4.83 | -3.97 |
Colour index B-V: +1.53
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 575.04 pc (1,876 light years) (1.3% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -0.51
- Transverse velocity: 59.6 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 83.6 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): 357.9 pc, -10.3 pc, 449.9 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -64.7 km/s, -46.9 km/s, -24.4 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.