Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 27, 2026

AK Pyxidis

AK Pyxidis is a semiregular variable star located in the constellation Pyxis. It varies between magnitudes 6.09 and 6.51, making it very faintly visible to the naked eye under excellent dark sky conditions. It has been found to pulsate with periods of 55.5, 57.9, 86.7, 162.9 and 232.6 days simultaneously. Located around 1228 light-years distant, it shines with a luminosity approximately 1,400 times that of the Sun and has a surface temperature of 3,333 K.

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Jul 27, 2026
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AK Pyxidis

A visual band light curve for AK Pyxidis, plotted from data published by Tabur et al. (2009)1
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox ICRS
Constellation Pyxis
Right ascension 08h 48m 14.62631s2
Declination −28° 38′ 19.6757″2
Apparent magnitude (V) 6.09-6.513
Characteristics
Spectral type M5III 3
Variable type semiregular variable3
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ) RA: −10.60±0.292 mas/yr
Dec.: −8.05±0.292 mas/yr
Parallax (π)4.68±0.41 mas2
Distance700 ± 60 ly
(210 ± 20 pc)
Details
Mass3.974 M☉
Radius1125 R☉
Luminosity1,3795 L☉
Surface gravity (log g)1.644 cgs
Temperature3,3335 K
Metallicity [Fe/H]−0.414 dex
Other designations
AK Pyxidis, CD−61°1428, HD 75306, HIP 43215, SAO 1764966
Database references
SIMBADdata

AK Pyxidis is a semiregular variable star located in the constellation Pyxis. It varies between magnitudes 6.09 and 6.51,3 making it very faintly visible to the naked eye under excellent dark sky conditions. It has been found to pulsate with periods of 55.5, 57.9, 86.7, 162.9 and 232.6 days simultaneously.1 Located around 1228 light-years distant, it shines with a luminosity approximately 1,400 times that of the Sun and has a surface temperature of 3,333 K.5

The variability of AK Pyxidis was discovered during the analysis of the Hipparcos satellite data. It was given the variable star designation AK Pyxidis in 1999.7

References

References

  1. Tabur, V.; Bedding, T.R. (2009). "Long-term photometry and periods for 261 nearby pulsating M giants". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 400 (4): 1945–61. arXiv:0908.3228. Bibcode:2009MNRAS.400.1945T. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15588.x. S2CID 15358380.
  2. van Leeuwen, F. (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 474 (2): 653–664, arXiv:0708.1752, Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357, S2CID 18759600
  3. Watson, Christopher (25 August 2009). "AK Pyxidis". The International Variable Star Index. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  4. Khalatyan, A.; Anders, F.; Chiappini, C.; Queiroz, A. B. A.; Nepal, S.; Dal Ponte, M.; Jordi, C.; Guiglion, G.; Valentini, M.; Torralba Elipe, G.; Steinmetz, M.; Pantaleoni-González, M.; Malhotra, S.; Jiménez-Arranz, Ó.; Enke, H.; Casamiquela, L.; Ardèvol, J. (2024). "Transferring spectroscopic stellar labels to 217 million Gaia DR3 XP stars with SHBoost". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 691: A98. arXiv:2407.06963. Bibcode:2024A&A...691A..98K. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202451427.
  5. McDonald, I.; Zijlstra, A. A.; Watson, R. A. (2017). "Fundamental parameters and infrared excesses of Tycho-Gaia stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 471 (1): 770. arXiv:1706.02208. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.471..770M. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1433.
  6. "V* AK Pyx". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  7. Kazarovets, E. V.; Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; Frolov, M. S.; Antipin, S. V.; Kireeva, N. N.; Pastukhova, E. N. (January 1999). "The 74th Special Name-list of Variable Stars" (PDF). Information Bulletin on Variable Stars. 4659: 1. Bibcode:1999IBVS.4659....1K. Retrieved 8 October 2024.