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Xi Eridani

star in the constellation Eridanus

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ6856249
Source-derived summary

ξ Eridani (Latinised as Xi Eridani) is a solitary star in the constellation Eridanus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 5.17, it is faintly visible to the naked eye on a clear, dark night. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 0.00156 arcseconds, it is located around 209 light years from the Sun. The star is considered a member of the Sirius supercluster.

This is an ordinary A-type main sequence star with a stellar classification of A2 V, indicating that it is generating energy through the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core region. It is around 450 million years old and has a relatively high rate of rotation with a projected rotational velocity of 194 km/s.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Xi Eridani” is star in the constellation Eridanus. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Eridani, star and constellation, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current 119-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Eridani, star and constellation is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “star in the constellation Eridanus” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6856249. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Xi Eridani”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Xi Eridani primary sources, Xi Eridani archive and Eridani research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Xi Eridani”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Xi Eridani” 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.