Beta Phoenicis [SEP] constellation
Beta Phoenicis
Beta Phoenicis (β Phoenicis, β Phe) is a binary star in the constellation Phoenix. Its apparent magnitude is 3.30, meaning that it can be seen with the naked eye "(see Bortle scale)".
The distance to Beta Phoenicis is poorly known. The original reduction of the Hipparcos satellite's data yielded a parallax value of 16 milliarcseconds, yet its standard error was larger than the parallax value itself. The new reduction of the Hipparcos data gave 0.12 ± 14.62 milliarcseconds, still unusable.
light years distant from Earth and orbited by a secondary object about which little is known. Lying close by Ankaa is Kappa Phoenicis, a main sequence star of spectral type A5IVn and apparent magnitude 3.90. Located centrally in the asterism, Beta Phoenicis is the second brightest star in the constellation and another binary star. Together the stars, both yellow giants of spectral type G8, shine with an apparent magnitude of 3.31, though the components are of individual apparent magnitudes of 4.0 and 4.1 and orbit each other every 168 years. Zeta