astronomy

GSC 02620-00648

GSC 02620-00648 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GSC 02620-00648 rather than just read about it. In short: GSC 02620-00648 is a binary star system located approximately 1,660 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. The brighter of the pair is a magnitude 12 star about 1.45 times as massive as the Sun.

Key takeaways

GSC 02620-00648 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GSC 02620-00648 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GSC 02620-00648 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

GSC 02620-00648 is a binary star system located approximately 1,660 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. The brighter of the pair is a magnitude 12 star about 1.45 times as massive as the Sun. It hosts one known exoplanet, TrES-4b.

Nomenclature The designation GSC 02620-00648 comes from the Guide Star Catalog. The star is sometimes called TrES-4, in reference to its planet discovered by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES). The discovery paper and the SIMBAD database use this designation for the planet itself, but other sources call the star TrES-4 and the planet TrES-4b, following the standard exoplanet naming convention.

Binary star In 2008 a study was undertaken of 14 stars with exoplanets that were originally discovered using the transit method through relatively small telescopes. These systems were re-examined with the 2.2M reflector telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. This star system, along with two others, was determined to be a previously unknown binary star system. The previously unknown secondary star is a dim magnitude 14 K or M-type star separated by about 755 AU from the primary, appearing offset from the primary by about one arc second in the images. This discovery resulted in a recalculation of parameters for both the planet and the primary star.

Planetary system In 2006, the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey discovered the exoplanet TrES-4b using the transit method. This planet orbits the primary star. The planet is a low-density hot Jupiter, with a larger size than Jupiter but a smaller mass, and an orbital period of only four days.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GSC 02620-00648

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GSC 02620-00648 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GSC 02620-00648 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GSC 02620-00648 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GSC 02620-00648

In research: GSC 02620-00648 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GSC 02620-00648 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GSC 02620-00648 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Binary stars, F-type main-sequence stars, Hercules (constellation), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GSC 02620-00648 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GSC 02620-00648 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GSC 02620-00648 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GSC 02620-00648 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GSC 02620-00648 in simple terms?

Why does GSC 02620-00648 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GSC 02620-00648?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GSC 02620-00648.