Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 9, 2026

HD 55151

HD 55151 is a solitary star located in the circumpolar constellation Volans. With an apparent magnitude of 6.47, it is near the limit of naked eye visibility. The star is located 512 light years away from the Solar System, but is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −13 km/s.

Last revised
Jul 9, 2026
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≈ 3 min
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HD 55151
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox ICRS
Constellation Volans1
Right ascension 07h 06m 14.31s2
Declination −68° 50′ 15.3″2
Apparent magnitude (V) 6.47±0.013
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage red giant branch2
Spectral type K0 III4
U−B color index +0.875
B−V color index +1.045
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)−13±0.142 km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: +5.690 mas/yr2
Dec.: −2.103 mas/yr2
Parallax (π)6.3734±0.0192 mas2
Distance512 ± 2 ly
(156.9 ± 0.5 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)+0.431
Details
Mass2.00±0.276 M☉
Radius12.77 R☉
Luminosity497 L☉
Surface gravity (log g)2.77±0.148 cgs
Temperature4,2827 K
Metallicity [Fe/H]−0.02±0.058 dex
Rotational velocity (v sin i)<19 km/s
Age3452 Myr
Other designations
7 G. Volantis, CD−68 447, HD 55151, HIP 34270, HR 2712, SAO 249740
Database references
SIMBADdata

HD 55151 (HR 2712) is a solitary star located in the circumpolar constellation Volans. With an apparent magnitude of 6.47,3 it is near the limit of naked eye visibility. The star is located 512 light years2 away from the Solar System, but is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −13 km/s.2

HD 55151 has a stellar classification of K0 III,4 which states that it is an early K-type star that has exhausted hydrogen at its core and left the main sequence. It has twice the Sun's mass,6 but has expanded to 13 times the Sun's girth.7 It radiates at 49 solar luminosities from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,282 K,7 which gives it the orangish-yellow hue of a K-type star. HD 55151 belongs to the thin disk population,10 and is slightly metal deficient. However, it has a projected rotational velocity that is too low to be measured.9

References

References

  1. 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. XHIP record for this object at VizieR.
  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. Høg, E.; Fabricius, C.; Makarov, V. V.; Urban, S.; Corbin, T.; Wycoff, G.; Bastian, U.; Schwekendiek, P.; Wicenec, A. (1 March 2000). "The Tycho-2 catalogue of the 2.5 million brightest stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 355: L27–L30. Bibcode:2000A&A...355L..27H.
  4. Houk, N.; Cowley, A. P. (1 January 1975). University of Michigan Catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars. Volume I. Declinations -90_ to -53_ƒ0. Bibcode:1975mcts.book.....H.
  5. Johnson, H. L.; Mitchell, R. I.; Iriarte, B.; Wisniewski, W. Z. (1 January 1966). "UBVRIJKL Photometry of the Bright Stars". Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. 4: 99–110. Bibcode:1966CoLPL...4...99J.
  6. Stassun, Keivan G.; Oelkers, Ryan J.; et al. (1 September 2018). "The TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List". The Astronomical Journal. 156 (3): 102. arXiv:1706.00495. Bibcode:2018AJ....156..102S. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aad050. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 73582386.
  7. Hon, Marc; Huber, Daniel; Kuszlewicz, James S.; Stello, Dennis; Sharma, Sanjib; Tayar, Jamie; Zinn, Joel C.; Vrard, Mathieu; Pinsonneault, Marc H. (2021). "A "Quick Look" at All-sky Galactic Archeology with TESS: 158,000 Oscillating Red Giants from the MIT Quick-look Pipeline". The Astrophysical Journal. 919 (2): 131. arXiv:2108.01241. Bibcode:2021ApJ...919..131H. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac14b1.
  8. Alves, S.; Benamati, L.; Santos, N. C.; Adibekyan, V. Zh.; Sousa, S. G.; Israelian, G.; De Medeiros, J. R.; Lovis, C.; Udry, S. (1 April 2015). "Determination of the spectroscopic stellar parameters for 257 field giant stars★". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 448 (3): 2749–2765. arXiv:1503.02556. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.448.2749A. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv189. ISSN 0035-8711.
  9. De Medeiros, J. R.; Alves, S.; Udry, S.; Andersen, J.; Nordström, B.; Mayor, M. (1 January 2014). "A catalog of rotational and radial velocities for evolved stars. V. Southern stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 561: A126. arXiv:1312.3474. Bibcode:2014A&A...561A.126D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220762.
  10. Adibekyan, V. Zh.; Benamati, L.; Santos, N. C.; Alves, S.; Lovis, C.; Udry, S.; Israelian, G.; Sousa, S. G.; Tsantaki, M.; Mortier, A.; Sozzetti, A.; De Medeiros, J. R. (1 June 2015). "Chemical abundances and kinematics of 257 G-, K-type field giants. Setting a base for further analysis of giant-planet properties orbiting evolved stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 450 (2): 1900–1915. arXiv:1503.08346. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.450.1900A. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv716. ISSN 0035-8711.