47 UMa

  47 UMa

 Pre Astro Earth Information – For the current system information see: 47 Ursae Majoris

(For the full article go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_Ursae_Majoris )

 is a  solar analog ,  yellow dwarf star  approximately 46  light-years[1 ]  away from Earth in the constellation  of  Ursa Major. As of 2011, it has been confirmed that three Jupiter-like  extrasolar planets  orbit the star. Because of this, 47 Ursae Majoris was listed as one of top 100 target stars for  NASA 's former  Terrestrial Planet Finder  mission. [7 ]

 47 Ursae Majoris is located fairly close to the  Solar System : according to  astrometric  measurements made by the  Hipparcos  astrometry satellite, the star exhibits a  parallax  of 71.11  milliarcseconds , corresponding to a distance of 45.913  light-years. [1 ]  With an  apparent magnitude of +5.03, it is visible to the  naked eye  under good conditions.

 47 Ursae Majoris has a similar  mass  to that of our Sun. It is slightly more  metal-rich  than the Sun, having around 110% of the solar  abundance of  iron. With a  spectral type  of G1V, it is also slightly hotter than the Sun, at around 5,882  K. [3 ]  47 Ursae Majoris has an  absolute magnitude  of +4.29, implying it has a visual  luminosity  around 60% greater than the Sun.

 Like the Sun, 47 Ursae Majoris is on the  main sequence, converting  hydrogen  to  helium  in its core by  nuclear fusion. Based on its chromospheric  activity, the star may be around 6,000 million years old, though  evolutionary models  suggest an older age of around 8,700 million years. [6 ]  Other studies have yielded estimates of 4,400 and 7,000 million years for the star. [8 ]

