Zeta Pyxidis (HIP 42483)

Zeta Pyxidis is a yellow giant star in the constellation Pyxis. At 244 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.86. Zeta Pyxidis is the primary component of a multiple-star system. The iron abundance of Zeta Pyxidis is -0.39 (40.7% of the Sun). It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 45.6 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 22,900 and 57,100 light years from the center of the Galaxy. It will come closest to the Sun 1.1 million years from now when it will brighten to magnitude 4.24 from a distance of 183 light years.

Sky position: RA 8h 39.7m, Dec -29° 33.6'

Common designations: Zeta Pyxidis, HIP 42483, HD 73898

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Brightest stars in Pyxis:
(list all)

1

|    3.68

)   Alpha Pyxidis

2

|    3.97

)   Beta Pyxidis

3

|    4.02

)   Gamma Pyxidis

4

|    4.62

)   Kappa Pyxidis

5

|    4.71

)   Theta Pyxidis

6

|    4.71

)   Lambda Pyxidis

7

|    4.86

)   Zeta Pyxidis

8

|    4.87

)   Delta Pyxidis

9

|    5.05

)   HD 73752

10

|    5.19

)   HR 3512

11

|    5.24

)   Eta Pyxidis

12

|    5.42

)   HD 72310

13

|    5.59

)   Epsilon Pyxidis

14

|    5.61

)   HR 3362

15

|    5.74

)   HR 3479

16

|    5.75

)   HD 71801

17

|    5.86

)   HR 3513

Location of Zeta Pyxidis circled
Map detail from Stars of the Northern Hemisphere
Hover over other bright stars to identify or click to jump.

Galactic Orbit of Zeta Pyxidis
(compared to the Sun)

Eccentricity: 42.8% vs. 16.0%

Angle φ : 35.0° vs. 26.0°

Semi-major axis : 12,268 pc vs. 8,686 pc

Semi-minor axis: 11,090 pc vs. 8,574 pc

Focus-to-center: 5,247 pc vs. 1,388 pc

Semilatus rectum : 10,024 pc vs. 8,464 pc

Perigalacticon: 7,021 pc vs. 7,297 pc

Apogalacticon: 17,515 pc vs. 10,074 pc
 
Some Tabulated XHIP Data for Zeta Pyxidis
(see also: SIMBAD)

Astrometry
 2007A&A...474..653V
  Position Proper Motion
Right Ascension: 129.92704476° ±0.13 mas -25.30 ±1.00 mas/yr.
Declination: -29.56086195° ±0.15 mas -93.00 ±0.90 mas/yr.
     
Galactic Longitude: 251.58759296° 59.09 mas/yr.
Galactic Latitude: 7.31399359° -76.14 mas/yr.

Parallax: 13.35 ± 0.23 mas

Spectrography

Spectral Type: G8III 2008ApJS..176..216A.

Radial Velocity: -30.10 ±0.30 km/s [A rating] 2006AstL...32..759G.

Iron Abundance [Fe/H]: -0.39 dex  1990ApJS...74.1075M.
 


Photometry
 
band magnitude Abs. Mag.
U
B 5.76 1.39
V 4.86 0.49
R
I 3.99 -0.38
J
H
K

  B-V: +0.90       V-I: +0.87

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 74.88 pc (1.7% margin of error)

Galactocentric distance: 7,424 pc

Transverse velocity: 34.2 km/s

3D heliocentric position and motion:

toward:   

Galactic center Galactic rotation North Galactic Pole
Position ( X, Y, Z) -23.5 pc -70.5 pc 9.5 pc
Velocity (U, V, W) 28.2 km/s 18.4 km/s -30.6 km/s

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