HR 6669 / HD 162826 / BD+40 3225

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HR 6669 (HD 162826) is a yellowish star that
is somewhat hotter, brighter, and 15 percent
more massive than our Sun, Sol, although it
appears to be a "Solar sibling." (See
Sloan Digital Sky Survey field images of
HR 6669 from WikiSky.org.)

System Summary

HR 6669 is located around 110 light-years (ly) away from the Solar System. It lies in the northwest region (17:51:14.0+40:4:20.9, ICRS 2000.0) of Constellation Hercules, the hero of Roman and earlier Greek mythology -- slightly northwest of Theta Herculis and Vega, southeast of Iota Herculis and Globular Cluster M92; and northeast of Pi and Eta Herculis. The star is not visible from Earth with the unaided Human eye, but it is easily detectable with low-power binoculars. While the star has been under 15 years of observation (as of May 2014), it does not appear to have a substellar companion object of Jupiter-mass or greater in a hot, close inner orbit. On May 8, 2014, astronomers studying the star determined it is a sibling of our Sun, Sol, born from the same molecular cloud of gas and dust, based on its chemical make-up and its orbital path and dynamics back in time around the galactic center (UTA new release; MacDonald Observatory news release; Megan Garber, The Atlantic, May 8, 2014; Ramirez et al, 2014; and Batista et al, 2012).

Ivan Ramirez, Tim Jones,
McDonald Observatory

Larger and jumbo composite images.

HR 6669 is visible with low-power
binoculars near Vega in
Constellation Hercules (more).

The system was probably first designated as BD+40 3225 in a catalogue that was originally published in 1863 by Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander (1799-1875) on the position and brightness of 324,198 stars between +90° and -2° declination that were measured over 11 years from Bonn, Germany with his assistants Eduard Schönfeld (1828-1891) and Aldalbert Krüger (1832-1896). The catalogue became famous as the Bonner Durchmusterung ("Bonn Survey") and is typically abbreviated as BD. It was later expanded and extended during the early 20th Century with the Cordoba (observed from Argentina) then the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung (observed from South Africa).

The Star

HR 6669 is a main sequence dwarf star of spectral and luminosity type F8 V. The star may have around 1.15 times Sol's mass and so is somewhat brighter and larger in diameter (Ramirez et al, 2014). Like the Sun, HR 6669 should be around 4.57 billion years old, and it appears to be around 1.07 times or less enriched as Sol with elements heavier than hydrogen ("metallicity") based on its abundance of iron and other elements (Ramirez et al, 2014). Like its sibling, HR 6669 is a member of the galaxy's thin disk and was born in a massive cluster with 1,000 to 10,000+ other stars (Fred C. Adams, 2010; more from Neill Reid, 2012). Useful star catalogue numbers for the star include: HR 6669, BD+40 3225, HIP 87382, HD 162826, SAO 47009, PPM 56549, and 2MASS J17511402+4004208.

Closest Neighbors

The following star systems are located within 20 light-years of HR 6669.

Star System	Spectra & Luminosity	Distance (light-years)
BD+41 3013	F8 V	8
BD+36 2975	G5 V	11
Hip 90061	M2 V	14
BD+47 2501 AB?	K0 V ?	14
Hip 86616	M1 V	16
BD+43 2989	G5 V	20

Other Information

Up-to-date technical summaries on this star can be found at: SIMBAD. More recent research papers may become available at the SAO/NASA ADS.

In Greek mythology, Hercules was the son of the God Zeus and the Alkmene, the wife of Amphitryon who was fooled by Zeus into believing that he was Amphitryon. Hera, the wife of Zeus, somehow arranged that the first born son of Alkmene became Eurystheus, who under Hera's influence eventually gave his half brother twelve tasks to complete or perish. For more information about the stars and objects in this constellation, go to Christine Kronberg's Hercules. For an illustration, see David Haworth's Hercules.

For more information about stars including spectral and luminosity class codes, go to ChView's webpage on The Stars of the Milky Way.