Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 24, 2026

11 Camelopardalis

11 Camelopardalis is a single star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Camelopardalis, located around 690 light years away from the Sun as determined by parallax. It has the variable star designation BV Camelopardalis; 11 Camelopardalis is the Flamsteed designation. This object is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued star with a baseline apparent visual magnitude of +5.22. It forms a double star with 12 Camelopardalis, which is only 3 arcminutes away.

Last revised
Jun 24, 2026
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≈ 3 min
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Wikipedia ↗
11 Camelopardalis

A light curve for BV Camelopardalis, plotted from Hipparcos data1
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Camelopardalis
Right ascension 05h 06m 08.45273s2
Declination +58° 58′ 20.5432″2
Apparent magnitude (V) 5.083
Characteristics
Spectral type B3 Ve4
B−V color index −0.0805
Variable type Be6
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ) RA: −6.2642 mas/yr
Dec.: −7.1182 mas/yr
Parallax (π)4.7543±0.1224 mas2
Distance690 ± 20 ly
(210 ± 5 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)−1.385
Details
Mass6.0±1.27 M☉
Radius7.878 R☉
Luminosity1,766+131
−1227 L☉
Surface gravity (log g)4.00±0.357 cgs
Temperature17,240±5607 K
Rotational velocity (v sin i)95±67 km/s
Age25±39 Myr
Other designations
11 Cam, BV Cam, BD+58°804, GC 6193, HD 32343, HIP 23734, HR 1622, SAO 25001, CCDM 05062+5900, WDS J05061+5858A10
Database references
SIMBADdata
11 Camelopardalis and its reddish companion 12 Camelopardalis source ↗

11 Camelopardalis is a single11 star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Camelopardalis, located around 690 light years away from the Sun as determined by parallax. It has the variable star designation BV Camelopardalis; 11 Camelopardalis is the Flamsteed designation. This object is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued star with a baseline apparent visual magnitude of +5.22.5 It forms a double star with 12 Camelopardalis, which is only 3 arcminutes away.

This is a main sequence Be star with a stellar classification of B3 Ve.4 John R. Percy et al. discovered that 11 Camelopardalis is a variable star in 1979, and published that finding in 1981.12 It was given its variable star designation in 1987.13 Samus et al. (2017) classify it as a Be variable, rather than a Gamma Cassiopeiae type, and it ranges from a peak Hipparcos magnitude of 5.10 down to 5.22.6 The star is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 95 km/s,7 but is being viewed from an extreme pole-on position. Hence it is spinning much more rapidly than indicated. Outbursts of hydrogen emission lines have been observed, as well as rapid changes in hydrogen line profiles.14 It is 259 million years old with around six7 times the mass of the Sun.

References

References

  1. "Hipparcos Tools Interactive Data Access". Hipparcos. ESA. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  2. Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  3. "BV Cam", International Variable Star Index, AAVSO, retrieved 2022-07-26.
  4. Slettebak, A. (1982), "Spectral types and rotational velocities of the brighter Be stars and A-F type shell stars", Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 50: 55, Bibcode:1982ApJS...50...55S, doi:10.1086/190820.
  5. Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012), "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation", Astronomy Letters, 38 (5): 331, arXiv:1108.4971, Bibcode:2012AstL...38..331A, doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015, S2CID 119257644.
  6. Samus, N. N.; et al. (2017), "General Catalogue of Variable Stars", Astronomy Reports, 5.1, 61 (1): 80–88, Bibcode:2017ARep...61...80S, doi:10.1134/s1063772917010085, S2CID 125853869.
  7. Zorec, J.; et al. (November 2016), "Critical study of the distribution of rotational velocities of Be stars. I. Deconvolution methods, effects due to gravity darkening, macroturbulence, and binarity", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 595: 26, Bibcode:2016A&A...595A.132Z, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201628760, hdl:11336/37946.
  8. Kervella, Pierre; Arenou, Frédéric; Thévenin, Frédéric (2022). "Stellar and substellar companions from Gaia EDR3. Proper-motion anomaly and resolved common proper-motion pairs". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 657: 657. arXiv:2109.10912. Bibcode:2022A&A...657A...7K. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142146. S2CID 237605138.
  9. Tetzlaff, N.; et al. (January 2011), "A catalogue of young runaway Hipparcos stars within 3 kpc from the Sun", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 410 (1): 190–200, arXiv:1007.4883, Bibcode:2011MNRAS.410..190T, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17434.x, S2CID 118629873.
  10. "11 Cam". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  11. Eggleton, P. P.; et al. (September 2008), "A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 389 (2): 869–879, arXiv:0806.2878, Bibcode:2008MNRAS.389..869E, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x, S2CID 14878976.
  12. Percy, J. R.; Jakate, S. M.; Matthews, J. M. (January 1981). "Short-period light variations in Be stars". Astronomical Journal. 86: 53–61. Bibcode:1981AJ.....86...53P. doi:10.1086/112855. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  13. Kholopov, P. N.; Samus, N. N.; Kazarovets, E. V.; Kireeva, N. N. (August 1987). "The 68th Name-List of Variable Stars" (PDF). Information Bulletin on Variable Stars. 3058: 1. Bibcode:1987IBVS.3058....1K. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  14. Ballereau, D.; et al. (May 1987), "Hα echelle spectroscopy of Be stars: an atlas.", Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica, 15 (1): 29–52, Bibcode:1987RMxAA..15...29B.