HIP 72217 is a triple star system in the constellation Libra. With an apparent visual magnitude of 6.43, it is very close to the limit for naked eye vision, and thus can only be seen in dark skies. Based on parallax measurements, it lies at a distance of roughly 130 light-years (40 parsecs).
Characteristics This system is in a hierarchical configuration, with an inner pair of stars and an outer circumbinary component. The two inner components A and B are G-type stars that have reached the subgiant stage of evolution and are larger, hotter and more luminous than the Sun. The stars take 12.917 years (4,718 days) to fully orbit each other, have a semi-major axis of 7.65 astronomical units (au) and are in an eccentric orbit with e = 0.6319. Any planet orbiting either of the two inner stars would need to have an orbit between 0.003 and 0.067 au, since a longer orbit would be unstable due to the gravitational perturbations of the binary system, while a shorter orbit would reach the Roche lobe. A circumbinary planet would need to be orbiting between 2.734 and 2.966 au. Meanwhile, the habitable zone spans from roughly 1.2 to 2.8 au for the star A, and 1.1 to 2.6 au for the star B. The outer component C is a red dwarf separated by 290 au from the inner pair. It has around 28% of the Sun's size, shining with less than 1% of the Sun's luminosity and having an effective temperature of 3,250 K.
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