astronomy

HD 135344

HD 135344 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 HD 135344 rather than just read about it. In short: HD 135344 is a young binary star system about 440 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lupus. The primary star hosts a directly imaged gas giant planet, while the secondary star, also known as SAO 206462, is surrounded by a circumstellar disk of gas with clearly defined spiral arms and has three planet candidates.

Key takeaways

HD 135344 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect HD 135344 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of HD 135344 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

HD 135344 is a young binary star system about 440 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lupus. The primary star hosts a directly imaged gas giant planet, while the secondary star, also known as SAO 206462, is surrounded by a circumstellar disk of gas with clearly defined spiral arms and has three planet candidates.

HD 135344 A HD 135344 A is an A-type main-sequence star. It hosts a directly imaged gas giant planet, about 10 times the mass of Jupiter, discovered in 2025 with VLT/SPHERE.

HD 135344 B

HD 135344 B, also known as SAO 206462, has been known to have a circumstellar disk since the 1990s, first detected based on an infrared excess. Observations of the structure of the disk were presented in July 2009 by Carol Grady, astronomer of Eureka Scientific, headquartered in the Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA. It was the first of this class that exhibited a high degree of clarity and was observed using several space telescopes (Hubble, FUSE, Spitzer) and ground-based telescopes (Gemini Observatory and Subaru Telescope, situated in Hawaii), through an international research program of young stars and of stars with planets. A number of astronomers of different observatories collaborated. The disk's diameter is about twice the size of the orbit of Pluto.

Evidence of planets

The pair of spiral arms around SAO 206462 have a rotation rate of −0.85 degrees per year, which are thought to be caused by a dynamically driving protoplanet within the disk, at a distance of 66±3 astronomical units and an orbital period of 424±25 years. This planet should be a challenge to be detected using direct imaging due to the presence of dust particles obscuring it, but could be detected and confirmed via high-resolution spectroscopic observations. One 2026 study refined the rotation rate to −0.81±0.05 °/yr and provided new evidence supporting the existence of the planet. Another planet candidate around SAO 206462 has been detected using observations of the JWST's NIRCam imaging instrument, with low signal-to-noise ratio, a mass of 0.8±0.3 MJ and a separation of 300 astronomical units. It has been dubbed CC1 (Companion candidate 1). Objects more massive than 2.2 MJ at distances of up to 120 AU have been ruled out by the observations. A third planet candidate was detected by direct imaging in 2025, at the root of one of the disk's spiral arms. The object has a mass estimated at 2 MJ, and is highly embedded in gas and dust, possibly having its own protoplanetary disk. It has a separation of 28 AU from the host star and is likely shepherding the inner part of the disk. This exoplanet has been disputed in 2026, attributed to an artifact in the data processing.

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with HD 135344

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what HD 135344 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 HD 135344 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 HD 135344 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 HD 135344

In research: HD 135344 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 HD 135344 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: HD 135344 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics A-type main-sequence stars, Binary stars, Circumstellar disks, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for HD 135344 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 HD 135344 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what HD 135344 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 HD 135344 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is HD 135344 in simple terms?

Why does HD 135344 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 HD 135344?

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 HD 135344.