Facts about Procyon B
- 09
Procyon B's radius measures only 0.012 times Earth's radius, roughly comparable to our planet's size despite containing 55 percent of our Sun's mass.
- 08
Procyon B's luminosity is approximately 0.00049 times that of our Sun, making it one of the faintest stars visible to the naked eye despite its proximity to Earth.
- 07
Spectroscopic analysis of Procyon B's light spectrum reveals hydrogen and helium absorption lines, indicating a thin atmospheric layer overlying its carbon-oxygen core.
- 06
Observations of Procyon B's motion between 1995 and 2005 revealed a third body in the system, potentially a brown dwarf or planetary-mass object orbiting the white dwarf pair.
- 05
Procyon B orbits its companion star Procyon A every 40.84 years, making it one of the most well-studied binary white dwarf systems visible from Earth.
- 04
Composed almost entirely of carbon and oxygen, Procyon B's extraordinarily dense interior packs material so compact that a teaspoon would weigh roughly 5.5 tons on Earth.
- 03
Approximately 500 million years ago, Procyon B exhausted its hydrogen fuel and collapsed into the white dwarf we observe today after its red giant phase ended.
- 02
Procyon B's surface temperature reaches approximately 7,740 Kelvin, making it significantly hotter than our Sun's surface at 5,778 Kelvin despite being much smaller and dimmer.
- 01
With a mass of 0.55 solar masses, Procyon B is the eighth nearest white dwarf to Earth, located 11.4 light-years away in the Canis Minor constellation.