Rho Piscium

Rho Piscium

Location of ρ Piscium (circled)

Observation data Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation	Pisces
Right ascension	01^h 26^m 15.28^s
Declination	+19° 10' 20.4"
Apparent magnitude (V)	+5.35
Distance	85 ly (26 pc)
Spectral type	F2V:var
Other designations
ρ Piscium, ρ Psc, Rho Psc, 93 Piscium, BD+18°187, GC 1733, HD 8723, HIP 6706, HR 413, PPM 117332, SAO 92436.

Rho Piscium (Rho Psc, ρ Piscium, ρ Psc) is a yellowish white F-type main sequence star with an apparent magnitude of +5.35. It is approximately 85 light years from Earth. The star's age is estimated to be 1.4 billion years but is certainly no less than 600 million years and no greater than 1.9 billion years.

Rho Piscium is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 8.4 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 23,500 and 32,900 light years from the center of the Galaxy.^[1]

Rho Piscium will come closest to the Sun 2.7 million years from now when it will brighten to magnitude 3.41 from a distance of 34 light years.^[1]

Naming

In Chinese, 右更 (Yòu Gèng), meaning Official in Charge of the Pasturing, refers to an asterism consisting of refers to an asterism consisting of ρ Piscium, η Piscium, π Piscium, ο Piscium and 104 Piscium. Consequently, ρ Piscium itself is known as 右更一 (Yòu Gèng yī, English: the First Star of Official in Charge of the Pasturing.)^[2]

References

1. Rho Piscium (HIP 6706)
2. (Chinese) AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 5 月 19 日