Groombridge 34
binary star system in the constellation of Andromeda
Groombridge 34 is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It was listed as entry number 34 in A Catalogue of Circumpolar Stars, published posthumously in 1838 by British astronomer Stephen Groombridge. Based upon parallax measurements taken by the Gaia spacecraft, the system is located about 11.6 light-years (3.6 parsecs) from the Sun. This positions the pair among the nearest stars to the Solar System.
Both components are small, dim red dwarf stars that are too faint to be seen with the naked eye. They orbit around their common barycenter in a fairly eccentric orbit with a separation of about 93 AU and a period of around 1,065 years. Both stars exhibit random variation in luminosity due to flares and they have been given variable star designations: the brighter member Groombridge 34 A is designated GX And, while the smaller component is designated GQ And.
The star system has a relatively high proper motion of 2.9 arc seconds per year, and is moving away from the Solar System at a velocity of 11.6 km/s. It achieved perihelion some 15,000 years ago when it came within 11 ly (3.5 pc) of the Sun.
GX Andromedae
The more massive and luminous component of the pair has the variable star designation GX Andromedae.
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This entry incorporates text from “Groombridge 34” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.