Zeta Boötis
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| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 |
|
|---|---|
| Constellation (pronunciation) |
Boötes |
| Right ascension | 14h 41m 08.9s |
| Declination | +13° 43' 42" |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | +3.78 |
| Distance | 181 ± 12 ly (55 ± 4 pc) |
| Spectral type | A2III |
| Other designations | |
Zeta Boötis (ζ Boo / ζ Boötis) is a bright speckle binary in the constellation of Boötes. It also has the Flamsteed designation 30 Boötis. It is approximately 181 light years from Earth and has a combined apparent magnitude of +3.78.
The angular separation of the components is currently about 0.8" (this varies slightly with orbital period). As the separation is close to the seeing limit of most astronomical observations, ζ Boötis is often used to test the performance of new high resolution imaging techniques.
Both components, are white A-type giants with apparent magnitudes of +4.43 and +4.83.
 Zeta Bootis imaged with the Nordic Optical Telescope on 13 May 2000 using the lucky imaging method. (The Airy discs around the stars is diffraction from the 2.56m telescope aperture.) |
 Typical short-exposure image of a binary star, as seen using speckle imaging through the Earth's atmosphere. |
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