8_Leonis_Minoris
8 Leonis Minoris
Star in the constellation of Leo Minor
8 Leonis Minoris (8 LMi) is a solitary,[14] red hued star located in the northern constellation Leo Minor. It has an apparent magnitude 5.37,[2] making it faintly visible to the naked eye. Based on parallax measurements from the Gaia satellite, the object is estimated to be 492 light years distant.[1] It is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 40 km/s.[6] At its current distance, 8 LMi is diminshed by 0.12 magnitudes due to interstellar dust.[15]
This is an asymptotic giant branch star[3] with stellar classification of M1 IIIab.[4] It has 1.59 times the mass of the Sun[8] but has expanded to 48.5 times its girth.[9] It radiates 417 times the luminosity of the Sun[10] from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 3,978 K.[12] 8 LMi has an iron abundance only half of the Sun's, making it metal deficient.[1]
8 LMi's variability was first observed to be variable in 1930 by Joel Stebbins.[16] However, Eggen (1967) instead lists it as an ordinary M-type giant and used the object for comparison.[17] In 1978-9, 8 LMi was again listed as a variable star but did not provide further insight.[18] As of 2017, the star has not been confirmed to be variable.[5]