AC+79 3888

Starbox observe
epoch=J2000.0
equinox=J2000.0 (ICRS)
constell=Camelopardalis
ra=RA|11|47|41.3771SIMBAD link|LHS+2459|LHS 2459 -- High proper-motion Star, database entry, SIMBAD. Accessed on line July 29, 2008.]
dec=DEC|+78|41|28.178
appmag_v=10.78Starbox character
class=M3.5
b-v=1.6
v-r=0.8
r-i=0.8Starbox astrometry
radial_v=−119
prop_mo_ra=743.58
prop_mo_dec=480.47
parallax=185.52
p_error=1.43
parallax_footnote=Starbox detail
mass=0.30 [http://webviz.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-5?-out.add=.&-source=V/101/catalog&recno=168 AC+79 3888] , entry, Catalogue of nearest stars until 10pc, V. A. Zakhozhaj, CDS ID [http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?V/101 V/101] .]
radius=0.320Starbox reference
Simbad=LHS+2459
ARICNS=00910Starbox catalog
names= G 254-29, Gliese 445, HIP 57544, LFT 849, LHS 2459, LTT 13235, NLTT 28539

AC+79 3888 is an M-type main sequence star in the constellation of Camelopardalis, close to Polaris. It has no name other than its catalog designations. AC+79 3888 is currently 17.6 light years away from Earth and has apparent visual magnitude 11. It is visible to people north of the Tropic of Cancer all night long, however not to the naked eye.Page 168, "Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System", Mark Littmann, Mineola, New York: Courier Dover Publications, 2004, ISBN 0486436020.]

Future historical importance

The Voyager 1 probe will pass within 1.6 light years of AC+79 3888 in about 40,000 years. [ [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar.html NASA – Voyager - Mission - Interstellar Mission ] ] Because the star is a red dwarf with only a quarter of the mass of our sun, scientists do not believe that it can support life as we know it.

While the Voyager probe flies through space slowly closing on AC+79 3888, AC+79 3888 is rapidly approaching the sun. At the time the probe passes AC+79 3888, AC+79 3888 will be just 3 light-years from our own sun. Even then, AC+79 3888 will be two times too faint to see with the naked eye.

References