Magnitude 3.73 Apparent magnitude (V) 3.73 | ||
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Nu Octantis is a spectroscopic binary star in the constellation Octans with a period around 2.9 years. Its apparent magnitude is 3.73. Located around 21.20 parsecs (69.1 ly) distant, the primary is an orange giant of spectral type K1III, a star that has used up its core hydrogen and has expanded. The secondary star is likely a red dwarf from its low mass.
In 2009, the system was hypothesized to contain an exoplanet based on perturbations in the orbital period. A prograde solution was quickly ruled out but a retrograde solution remains a possibility, although the variations may instead be due to the secondary star being itself a close binary, since the formation of a planet in such a system would difficult due to dynamic perturbations.
References
Nu Octantis Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA