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V1054 Ophiuchi, together with the star Gliese 643, is a nearby quintuple star system, located in the constellation Ophiuchus at a distance of 21.2 light-years (6.5 parsecs). It consists of five stars, all of which are red dwarfs. The alternative designation of Wolf 630 forms the namesake of a moving group of stars that share a similar motion through space.[18]

Overview

A
P = 1.72 yr
Ba
P = 2.97 d
Bb
72″ separation
GJ 643
220″ separation
C (VB 8)

Hierarchy of orbits in the system[4]

V1054 Ophiuchi/Gliese 643 is the nearest quintuple star system;[4] the next nearest star systems with at least five stars are Xi Ursae Majoris (quintuple, including a brown dwarf)[19] at 28.5 light-years, Castor[4] (sextuple) at 49.2 light-years, and GJ 2069 (quintuple)[7] at 54.3 light-years. V1054 Ophiuchi and Xi Ursae Majoris are the only two quintuple star systems within 10 parsecs.[19]

The system consists of three widely separated parts:

  • close triple subsystem V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab (including very close binary subsystem V1054 Ophiuchi Bab)
  • Gliese 643
  • V1054 Ophiuchi C (vB 8)

The brightest and most massive of these five stars is V1054 Ophiuchi A. The close binary subsystem V1054 Ophiuchi B is more massive than V1054 Ophiuchi A, however, its total visual magnitude is 0.1 mag fainter than V1054 Ophiuchi A’s visual magnitude.[4]

The total apparent magnitude of the V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab triple subsystem is 9.02.[4][20]

Despite V1054 Ophiuchi/Gliese 643 consisting of low-mass stars, the system’s total mass, due to the large number of components, exceeds the Solar mass,[4] about 1.35 M☉.

Distance

Currently, the most accurate distance estimate of V1054 Ophiuchi/Gliese 643 is a trigonometric parallax of Gliese 643 from Gaia DR3:[5] 153.8754±0.0474 mas, corresponding to a distance of 6.499±0.002 pc, or 21.196±0.007 ly.

Past V1054 Ophiuchi/Gliese 643 distance estimates

V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab:

Source Paper Parallax, mas Distance, pc Distance, ly Ref.
Woolley Woolley et al. 1970 156 ± 4 6.41 ± 0.17 20.9 ± 0.6 [21]
GJ, 3rd version Gliese & Jahreiß 1991 153.9 ± 2.6 6.50 ± 0.11 21.19 ± 0.36 [22]
YPC, 4th edition van Altena et al. 1995 154.8 ± 0.6 6.460 ± 0.025 21.07 ± 0.08 [23]
Hipparcos Perryman 1997 174.23 ± 3.90 5.74 ± 0.13 18.7 ± 0.4 [20]
Soederhjelm Soederhjelm 1999 155.63 ± 1.81 6.43 ± 0.08 20.96 ± 0.25 [24]
Hipparcos2 van Leeuwen 2007 161.41 ± 5.64 6.20 ± 0.22 20.21 ± 0.73 [3]

Gliese 643:

Source Paper Parallax, mas Distance, pc Distance, ly Ref.
Woolley Woolley et al. 1970 169 ± 5 5.92 ± 0.18 19.3 ± 0.6 [21]
GJ, 3rd version Gliese & Jahreiß 1991 171.9 ± 7.3 5.82 ± 0.26 19.0 ± 0.8 [22]
YPC, 4th edition van Altena et al. 1995 169.8 ± 6.6 5.89 ± 0.24 19.2 ± 0.8 [23]
Hipparcos Perryman 1997 153.96 ± 4.04 6.50 ± 0.18 21.2 ± 0.6 [20]
Hipparcos2 van Leeuwen 2007 148.92 ± 4.00 6.72 ± 0.19 21.9 ± 0.6 [3]

V1054 Ophiuchi C (vB 8):

Source Paper Parallax, mas Distance, pc Distance, ly Ref.
CTIOPI 1.5 m TSN 14 (Costa et al. 2005) 155.43 ± 1.33 6.43 ± 0.06 20.98 ± 0.18 [25]

Weighted mean distance

A weighted mean parallax[26] was calculated by RECONS in 2012, considering YPC (V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab and Gliese 643), Hipparcos (Soederhjelm — V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab and van Leeuwen — Gliese 643) and CTIOPI (V1054 Ophiuchi C) data. The value is 154.96±0.52 mas,[27] corresponding to a distance of 6.453±0.022 pc, or 21.05±0.07 ly. This predates Gaia astrometry of the system.

System

V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab (inner triple subsystem)

V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab is a close spectroscopic triple subsystem, consisting of the brighter component V1054 Ophiuchi A and the more massive binary subsystem V1054 Ophiuchi Bab, orbiting each other with a period of 627 days,[7][4] or 1.72 years.[4] V1054 Ophiuchi Bab components are orbiting each other with a period of 2.9655 days.[7][4] Both outer and inner orbits are nearly circular and, probably, coplanar[7][4] (in keeping with a general tendency of close triple systems).[7]

V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab pair is also visually resolved (for nearly 50 years it was the shortest-period resolved by visual means binary, since its binarity was discovered by G. P. Kuiper in 1934),[4] whereas V1054 Ophiuchi Ba-Bb pair is still unresolved).[7][4][note 4]

Gliese 643

The projected separation of Gliese 643 from V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab is 72 arcsec,[7] corresponding at 21.05 light-years to 465 AU.

V1054 Ophiuchi C (vB 8)

vB 8 is the smallest, faintest, and most separated component of the V1054 Ophiuchi system. The projected separation of the red dwarf from the primary triple system is about 220 arcsec,[7][4] corresponding at 21.05 light-years to 1420 a.u. Since it is only three times larger than the projected separation between Gliese 643 and V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab, and such a small ratio should render the triple system dynamically unstable, it was suggested[4] that the real separation of V1054 Ophiuchi C from V1054 Ophiuchi A-Bab is much larger, at least by a factor of two,[4] i. e. at least 2840 a.u.

In 1984, the apparent detection of an infrared source near vB 8 suggested it had a low mass companion. The low mass of this candidate led to speculation that it may be a brown dwarf; the first such to be detected. This discovery was later found to be spurious, but it produced much interest in this class of astronomical object.[28]

Notes

  1. ^ Referred to entire V1054 Ophiuchi Bab subsystem.
  2. ^ From masses, period and parallax.
  3. ^ From masses and period. According to Mazeh et al. 2001, of order of 0.05 a. u.
  4. ^ At least it was not resolved by 2001.

References

  1. ^ Dal, H. A.; Evren, S. (August 2010). “A New Method for Classifying Flares of UV Ceti Type Stars: Differences Between Slow and Fast Flares”. The Astronomical Journal. 140 (2): 483–489. arXiv:1206.5791. Bibcode:2010AJ….140..483D. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/140/2/483. S2CID 119308060.
  2. ^ a b c d Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012). “XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation”. Astronomy Letters. 38 (5): 331. arXiv:1108.4971. Bibcode:2012AstL…38..331A. doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Vizier, Hipparcos, the New Reduction (van Leeuwen 2007)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Mazeh, Tsevi; Latham, David W.; Goldberg, Elad; Torres, Guillermo; Stefanik, Robert P.; Henry, Todd J.; Zucker, Shay; Gnat, Orly; Ofek, Eran O. (2001). “Studies of multiple stellar systems – IV. The triple-lined spectroscopic system V1054 Ophiuchi”. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 325 (1): 343–357. arXiv:astro-ph/0102451. Bibcode:2001MNRAS.325..343M. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04419.x. S2CID 16472347.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). “Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties”. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A…674A…1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  6. ^ a b c d Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). “Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties”. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A…674A…1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ségransan, Damien; Delfosse, Xavier; Forveille, Thierry; Beuzit, Jean-Luc; Udry, Stéphane; Perrier, Christian; Mayor, Michel (2000). “Accurate masses of very low mass stars. III. 16 new or improved masses”. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 364: 665–673. arXiv:astro-ph/0010585. Bibcode:2000A&A…364..665S.
  8. ^ Pourbaix, D.; Tokovinin, A. A.; Batten, A. H.; Fekel, F. C.; Hartkopf, W. I.; Levato, H.; Morrell, N. I.; Torres, G.; Udry, S. (2004). “SB9: The ninth catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits”. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 424: 727. arXiv:astro-ph/0406573. Bibcode:2004A&A…424..727P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041213.
  9. ^ Mason, Brian D.; Tokovinin, Andrei; Mendez, Rene A.; Costa, Edgardo (October 2023). “Speckle Interferometry at SOAR in 2022”. The Astronomical Journal. 166 (4): 139. Bibcode:2023AJ….166..139M. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/acedaf. ISSN 0004-6256.
  10. ^ a b Stassun, Keivan G.; Oelkers, Ryan J.; Paegert, Martin; Torres, Guillermo; Pepper, Joshua; De Lee, Nathan; Collins, Kevin; Latham, David W.; Muirhead, Philip S.; Chittidi, Jay; Rojas-Ayala, Bárbara; Fleming, Scott W.; Rose, Mark E.; Tenenbaum, Peter; Ting, Eric B. (2019-10-01). “The Revised TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List”. The Astronomical Journal. 158 (4): 138. arXiv:1905.10694. Bibcode:2019AJ….158..138S. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ab3467. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 166227927.
  11. ^ Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). “Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties”. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616. A1. arXiv:1804.09365. Bibcode:2018A&A…616A…1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051. Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR.
  12. ^ González-Payo, J.; Caballero, J.; Cifuentes, C; Cortés-Contreras, M.; Rica, F. (7 May 2026). “Characterisation of all known multiple stellar systems within 10 pc”. arxiv.org. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2605.04094.
  13. ^ a b c d Pineda, J. Sebastian; Youngblood, Allison; France, Kevin (September 2021). “The M-dwarf Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Sample. I. Determining Stellar Parameters for Field Stars”. The Astrophysical Journal. 918 (1): 23. arXiv:2106.07656. Bibcode:2021ApJ…918…40P. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac0aea. S2CID 235435757. 40.
  14. ^ Kemmer, J.; Lafarga, M.; Fuhrmeister, B.; Shan, Y.; Schöfer, P.; Jeffers, S. V.; Caballero, J. A.; Quirrenbach, A.; Amado, P. J. (2025-04-11). “The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. Cluster analysis of signals from spectral activity indicators to search for shared periods”. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 697. arXiv:2504.08363. Bibcode:2025A&A…697A.225K. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202347056.
  15. ^ “HD 152751”. SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  16. ^ “GJ 643”. SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg.
  17. ^ “VB 8”. SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg.
  18. ^ Bubar, Eric J.; King, Jeremy R. (August 2010). “Spectroscopic Abundances and Membership in the Wolf 630 Moving Group”. The Astronomical Journal. 140 (2): 293–318. arXiv:1005.1205. Bibcode:2010AJ….140..293B. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/140/2/293. S2CID 118455341.
  19. ^ a b Reylé, Céline; Jardine, Kevin; Fouqué, Pascal; Caballero, Jose A.; Smart, Richard L.; Sozzetti, Alessandro (30 April 2021). “The 10 parsec sample in the Gaia era”. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 650: A201. arXiv:2104.14972. Bibcode:2021A&A…650A.201R. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202140985. S2CID 233476431. Data available at https://gruze.org/10pc/ Archived 12 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ a b c Vizier, The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues (ESA 1997)
  21. ^ a b Vizier, Stars within 25 pc of the Sun (Woolley+ 1970)
  22. ^ a b Vizier, Nearby Stars, Preliminary 3rd Version (Gliese+ 1991)
  23. ^ a b VizieR, Yale Trigonometric Parallaxes, Fourth Edition (van Altena+ 1995)
  24. ^ Vizier, Visual binary orbits and masses (Soederhjelm 1999)
  25. ^ Costa, Edgardo; Méndez, René A.; Jao, W.-C.; Henry, Todd J.; Subasavage, John P.; Brown, Misty A.; Ianna, Philip A.; Bartlett, Jennifer (2005). “The Solar Neighborhood. XIV. Parallaxes from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Parallax Investigation-First Results from the 1.5 m Telescope Program”. The Astronomical Journal. 130 (1): 337–349. Bibcode:2005AJ….130..337C. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.573.7563. doi:10.1086/430473. S2CID 12213270.
  26. ^ DENSE Project. 25 pc White Dwarf Sample Archived 2012-04-01 at the Wayback Machine (see formulae below)
  27. ^ THE ONE HUNDRED NEAREST STAR SYSTEMS brought to you by RECONS (Research Consortium On Nearby Stars)
  28. ^ Reid, Neill I.; Hawley, Suzanne L. (27 November 2013). New Light on Dark Stars: Red Dwarfs, Low-Mass Stars, Brown Dwarfs. Astronomy and Planetary Sciences. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. p. 344. ISBN 978-1447136637.