Astronomy and Space

B Persei

b Persei (also known as HD 26961) is a spectroscopic triple star in the constellation Perseus. Its apparent magnitude is 4.60, making it visible to the naked eye. It is about 320 light years away. In addition to the primary, an A-type giant, there is a smaller and cooler companion in a 1.53 day orbit, probably an F-class star around absolute magnitude 3.0, and a more distant companion (star C or Ac) in an orbit calculated to be 702 days long. The close binary pair forms a rotating ellipsoidal variable with a 1.53 day period. Star C forms an Algol-type variable system with the close binary, showing both primary eclipses (when star C passes in front of the inner pair) and secondary eclipses (when the inner pair passes in front of star C). Timings of the eclipses show a 704.5-day period.

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See also

• ▸Hypothetical types of biochemistry
• ▸Calvin Hicks (photographer)
• ▸Edward P. Ney

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