astronomy

HD 154088

HD 154088 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 154088 rather than just read about it. In short: HD 154088 is a seventh magnitude metal-rich K-type subgiant that lies 59.6 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The star is orbited by a hot Super-Earth.

Key takeaways

HD 154088 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 154088 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of HD 154088 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

HD 154088 is a seventh magnitude metal-rich K-type subgiant that lies 59.6 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The star is orbited by a hot Super-Earth.

Properties

HD 154088 is a modestly bright star that lies at the bottom of Ophiuchus, near to the border with Scorpius and near to the plane of the Milky Way. The star was recognised as a high proper motion star during the last century, and early Earth-based parallax measurements such as that of the Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars indicated a distance of about 50 light-years. The star has a spectral type of K0IV-V, indicating that it has characteristics intermediate to a subgiant and main sequence star that is about 350 degrees cooler than the Sun. On the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (left), the star lies slightly above the main sequence. This is because the star is very metal-rich; with an Fe/H of 0.3 dex the star has about twice the solar abundance of iron, which makes HD 154088 fall into the somewhat vague group of super metal-rich (SMR) stars. The giant planet occurrence rate of Fe/H = 0.3 stars is on the order of 30%, but HD 154088 is not currently known to host any giant planets. HD 154088 has a pronounced magnetic field. It also has a magnetic cycle similar to the Sun, though its length is not well constrained. A survey in 2015 ruled out the existence of any additional stellar companions at projected distances from 8 to 119 astronomical units.

Planetary system A planet orbiting HD 154088 discovered with the HARPS spectrograph was announced in a September 2011 preprint. With a minimum mass of 6 M🜨, the companion falls into the regime of Super-Earths. HD 154088 has also been observed under the Keck Eta-Earth radial velocity survey. A 2010 paper about this survey listed a "Candidate 1" that has similar properties to HD 154088 b (orbital period = 18.1 days, minimum mass = 6.5 M🜨), and so may be the same detection. The planet's existence was finally confirmed and formally published in 2021.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with HD 154088

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what HD 154088 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 154088 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 154088 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 154088

In research: HD 154088 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 154088 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 154088 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Durchmusterung objects, Gliese and GJ objects, Henry Draper Catalogue objects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for HD 154088 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 154088 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what HD 154088 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 154088 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is HD 154088 in simple terms?

HD 154088 is a seventh magnitude metal-rich K-type subgiant that lies 59.6 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The star is orbited by a hot Super-Earth.

Why does HD 154088 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 154088?

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 154088.