Astronomy and Space

29 Aquarii

29 Aquarii is a binary star system located around 590 light-years away from the Sun in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius. 29 Aquarii is the Flamsteed designation; the system also bears the variable star designation DX Aquarii. It is a challenge to view with the naked eye, appearing as a dim star with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 6.39. The system is moving further from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of about +15 km/s. This is a spectroscopic binary system with a close circular orbit taking just 0.945 days to complete. Despite their proximity, this does not appear to be a contact binary system. The orbital plane of the two stars lies near the line of sight, so they form an Algol-type eclipsing binary. The first component of the system is an A-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of A2 V. Its companion is giant star with a classification of K0 III. The variability of this system was first noticed in 1965 by W. Strohmeier of Remeis-Observatory in Bamberg, Germany. He later discovered that the variability was caused by a binary companion eclipsing the primary star.

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See also

• ▸2MV
• ▸HMS Hermes (95)
• ▸Aquarius (constellation)

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