37 Geminorum is a solitary[11] Sun-like
star located at the northwest part of the northern
constellation of
Gemini, about three degrees to the east of the bright star
Epsilon Geminorum.[12] The
apparent visual magnitude of 37 Geminorum is 5.74,[2] which is just bright enough to be visible to the naked eye on a dark night. It is located at a distance of 57
light years from the
Sun based on
parallax.[1] This star is drifting closer with a
radial velocity of −15 km/s, and is predicted to come as near as 13.8 light-years in approximately a million years.[5] It is positioned close enough to the
ecliptic to be subject to
lunar occultations, such as happened on April 8, 1984.[13]
Properties
The
stellar classification of 37 Geminorum is G0 V,[3] which indicates it is an ordinary
G-type main sequence star that is generating energy through
corehydrogen fusion. In 2007, J. C. Hall and associates categorized it as a solar-type with a high mean activity level.[14] The star is around 5.5[9] billion years old and is spinning with a
rotation period of 25 days.[7] It is slightly larger and more massive than the Sun,[5][1] with a lower abundance of heavier elements based on its abundance of iron.[6] 37 Geminorum is radiating 1.3 times the luminosity of the Sun from its
photosphere at an
effective temperature of 6,060 K.[1]
There was a
METI message sent to 37 Geminorum. It was transmitted from
Eurasia's largest
radar, 70-meter
Yevpatoria Planetary Radar. The message was named the Teen Age Message, it was sent on September 3, 2001, and it will arrive at 37 Geminorum in December 2057.[17]
The Catalog of Nearby Habitable Systems (HabCat) is a list of approximately 17,000 relatively close stars similar to the sun and considered able to support a planet habitable by humans. 37 Geminorum is on the HabCat list.[18]
^Sinnott, Roger W.; Perryman, Michael A. C. (1997). Millennium Star Atlas. Vol. 1. Sky Publishing Corporation and the European Space Agency. p. 154.
ISBN0-933346-84-0.