Zeta Andromedae is the star's
Bayer designation. It also has the
Flamsteed designation 34 Andromedae and multiple other designations in stellar catalogues.
Location
Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Gloria Frederici, Andromeda, and Triangula (north is to the left)
The star's location is in the northern constellation Andromeda, in which it is the second-most southerly of the stars in this often drawn characteristic shape representing the mythical princess
asterism, after
η Andromedae.
The system is a
spectroscopic binary whose
primary is classified as an orange
K-typegiant with a mean
apparent magnitude of +4.08. Due to brightness changes caused by the
ellipsoidal shape of that object, the system is also an
RS Canum Venaticorum-typevariable star. Its brightness varies from magnitude +3.92 to +4.14 with a period of 17.77 days, and its spectrum shows strong and variable
Ca II H and K lines.[3] The orbital period of the binary is 17.77 days.
Direct imaging
The primary component of this binary system, Zeta Andromedae Aa, is one of the few stars who has been imaged directly using
Doppler imaging and long-baseline infrared
interferometry. With direct imaging we can recover additional information about this star.
Direct imaging also allowed observation of
starspots (the analogue to
sunspots), on this star, and their asymmetric distribution showed that the magnetic field of the star is generated by a mechanism different from the
solar dynamo.[9] A
Sun-like
differential rotation of the star was observed instead.[3]
Visual companions
The
WDS notes three
visual companions to the eclipsing binary (Aa and Ab, forming binary A).[4] The parallax of the D star has been measured by
Gaia proving its distance to be much greater than Zeta Andromedae, probably a distant red giant.[10] The closest companion, B, is likewise a background object.[11] The companion C at 97
″ shares a
common proper motion and a similar parallax.[12]
Multiple/double star designation:
WDS 00473+2416[13]
^
abcdHR 215, database entry, The Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed. (Preliminary Version), D. Hoffleit and W. H. Warren, Jr.,
CDS ID
V/50. Accessed on line August 29, 2008.
^Karataș, Yüksel; Bilir, Selçuk; Eker, Zeki; Demircan, Osman; Liebert, James; Hawley, Suzanne L.; Fraser, Oliver J.; Covey, Kevin R.; Lowrance, Patrick; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Burgasser, Adam J. (2004). "Kinematics of chromospherically active binaries and evidence of an orbital period decrease in binary evolution". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 349 (3): 1069–1092.
arXiv:astro-ph/0404219.
Bibcode:
2004MNRAS.349.1069K.
doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07588.x.
S2CID15290475.
^
abKorhonen, H.; Wittkowski, M.; Kovári, Zs.; Granzer, Th.; Hackman, T.; Strassmeier, K. G. (2010). "Ellipsoidal primary of the RS CVn binary ζ Andromedae . Investigation using high-resolution spectroscopy and optical interferometry". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 515: A14.
arXiv:1002.4201.
Bibcode:
2010A&A...515A..14K.
doi:
10.1051/0004-6361/200913736.
S2CID118683792.