Orbital
Distance

(a=AUs)
Orbital
Period

(P=years)
Orbital
Eccentricity

(e)
Orbital
Inclination

(i=degrees)

Mass

(Solar)

Diameter

(Solar)

Density

(Earths)
Surface
Gravity

(Earths)

Metallicity
(Solar)
AB Mass Center0.0........................
70 Ophiuchi A10.088.40.499121.20.9240.89-1.03......0.73
Inner H.Z. Edge A?0.560.430121.2...............
Outer H.Z. Edge A?1.101.210121.2...............
70 Ophiuchi B13.288.40.499121.20.7010.70-0.86......0.73
Inner H.Z. Edge B?0.320.210121.2...............
Outer H.Z. Edge B?0.620.580121.2...............


NOTE: This animation attempts to relate the orbits (and possible habitable zones) of Stars A and B in the 70 Ophiuchi AB system to their common center of mass. To enlarge the display, the orbits have been arbitrarily rotated 45 degrees. Although the initial display shows the system's actual orbital tilt (at an inclination of 121.2°) from the visual perspective of an observer on Earth, the orbital inclination of any planet that may be discovered someday around either star would likely be different from those of the habitable zone orbits depicted here.

Previous estimates that AB are separated "on average" by 23.3 AUs (4.560" of a semi-major axis with a parallax of 0.19596 RECONS; 1/2000 table for Gl 702) in a highly eccentric orbit (e= 0.495) that swings between 11.7 and 34.8 AUs and takes 88.3 years to complete (Wulff D. Heintz, 1988; Batten and Fletcher, 1991; and D.J. Barlow, 1994) may have been revised slighly. Based on new measurements (Dimitri Pourbaix, 2000) found in the new Sixth Catalog of Visual Orbits of Binary Stars, 70 Ophiuchi A and B may be separated on average by a semi-major axis of 23.2 AUs (4.554") in a highly elliptical orbit (e= 0.499) that takes 83.38 years to complete. The distance separating the two stars varies from 11.4 and 34.8 AUs; they are always separated from each other by roughly the orbital distance of Saturn in the Solar System. Lastly, the inclination of the orbit is 121.2° (revised from 120.8°), from the perspective of an observer on Earth.


 

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