Kapteyn's Star (HD 33793)
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Kapteyn's Star
Photo: ESO Online Digitized Sky Survey
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A nearby red dwarf (the 25th nearest star system to the Sun) in the southern constellation of Pictor; it has the second largest proper motion (8.72" per year) of any star, after Barnard's Star. It is also the nearest halo star (see halo population) to the Sun, the nearest star that orbits the Galaxy backward, and a high-velocity star (radial velocity +242 km/s). Along with 16 other stars, it forms a moving cluster and appears to have originated in Omega Centauri, a globular cluster that may be the remains of a dwarf galaxy that collided with the Milky Way. Kapteyn's Star is named after Jacobus Kapteyn, who discovered its large proper motion in 1897.
| visual magnitude |
8.86 |
| absolute magnitude |
12.78 |
| spectral type |
M0V |
| luminosity |
0.004 Lsun |
| distance |
12.78 light-years |
Related categories
• NOTABLE STARS
• NEAREST STARS
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