IK Pegasi

IK Pegasi (or HR 8210) is a binary star system in the constellation Pegasus. It is just luminous enough to be seen with the unaided eye, at a distance of about 154 light years from the Solar System. The primary (IK Pegasi A) is an A-type main-sequence star that displays minor pulsations in luminosity. It is categorized as a Delta Scuti variable star and it has a periodic cycle of luminosity variation that repeats itself about 22.9 times per day. Its companion (IK Pegasi B) is a massive white dwarf—a star that has evolved past the main sequence and is no longer generating energy through nuclear fusion. They orbit each other every 21.7 days with an average separation of about 31 million kilometres or 0.21 astronomical units (AU). This is smaller than the orbit of Mercury around the Sun. IK Pegasi B is a progenitor for a near-Earth supernova, although it is not the nearest supernova progenitor, which is Wolf 1130. When the primary begins to evolve into a red giant, it is expected to grow to a radius where the white dwarf can accrete matter from the expanded gaseous envelope. When the white dwarf approaches the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.4 solar masses (M☉), it may explode as a Type Ia supernova.

Observation This star system was catalogued in the 1862 Bonner Durchmusterung ("Bonn astrometric Survey") as BD +18°4794B. It later appeared in Pickering's 1908 Harvard Revised Photometry Catalogue as HR 8210. The designation "IK Pegasi" follows the expanded form of the variable star nomenclature introduced by Friedrich W. Argelander. Examination of the spectrographic features of this star showed the characteristic absorption line shift of a binary star system. This shift is created when their orbit carries the member stars toward and then away from the observer, producing a doppler shift in the wavelength of the line features. The measurement of this shift allows astronomers to determine the relative orbital velocity of at least one of the stars even though they are unable to resolve the individual components. In 1927, the Canadian astronomer William E. Harper used this technique to measure the period of this single-line spectroscopic binary and determined it to be 21.724 days. He also initially estimated the orbital eccentricity as 0.027. (Later estimates gave an eccentricity of essentially zero, which is the value for a circular orbit.) The velocity amplitude was measured as 41.5 km/s, which is the maximum velocity of the primary component along the line of sight to the Solar System. The distance to the IK Pegasi system can be measured directly by observing the tiny parallax shifts of this system (against the more distant stellar background) as the Earth orbits around the Sun. This shift was measured to high precision by the Hipparcos spacecraft, yielding a distance estimate of 150 light years (with an accuracy of ±5 light years). The same spacecraft also measured the proper motion of this system. This is the small angular motion of IK Pegasi across the sky because of its motion through space. The combination of the distance and proper motion of this system can be used to compute the transverse velocity of IK Pegasi as 16.9 km/s. The third component, the heliocentric radial velocity, can be measured by the average red-shift (or blue-shift) of the stellar spectrum. The General Catalogue of Stellar Radial Velocities lists a radial velocity of −11.4 km/s for this system. The combination of these two motions gives a space velocity of 20.4 km/s relative to the Sun. An attempt was made to photograph the individual components of this binary using the Hubble Space Telescope, but the stars proved too close to resolve. Recent measurements with the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer space telescope gave a more accurate orbital period of 21.72168 ± 0.00009 days. The inclination of this system's orbital plane is believed to be nearly edge-on (90°) as seen from the Earth. If so it may be possible to observe an eclipse.

IK Pegasi A

The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (HR diagram) is a plot of luminosity versus a color index for a set of stars. IK Pegasi A is currently a main sequence star—a term that is used to describe a nearly linear grouping of core hydrogen-fusing stars based on their position on the HR diagram. However, IK Pegasi A lies in a narrow, nearly vertical band of the HR diagram that is known as the instability strip. Stars in this band oscillate in a coherent manner, resulting in periodic pulsations in the star's luminosity. The pulsations result from a process called the κ-mechanism. A part of the star's outer atmosphere becomes optically thick due to partial ionization of certain elements. When these atoms lose an electron, the likelihood that they will absorb energy increases. This results in an increase in temperature that causes the atmosphere to expand. The inflated atmosphere becomes less ionized and loses energy, causing it to cool and shrink back down again. The result of this cycle is a periodic pulsation of the atmosphere and a matching variation of the luminosity.

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