Winnecke 4 (also known as Messier 40 or WNC 4) is an optical double star consisting of two unrelated stars in a northerly zone of the sky, Ursa Major.
The pair were discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 while he was searching for a nebula that had been reported in the area by Johannes Hevelius. Not seeing any nebulae, Messier catalogued this apparent pair instead. The pair were rediscovered by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke in 1863, and included in the Winnecke Catalogue of Double Stars as number 4. Burnham calls M40 "one of the few real mistakes in the Messier catalog," faulting Messier for including it when all he saw was a double star, not a nebula of any sort.[9]
In 1991 the separation between the components was measured at 51.7″, an increase since 1764. Data gathered by astronomers Brian Skiff (2001) and Richard L. Nugent (2002) strongly suggested the subject was merely an optical double star rather than a physically connected (binary) system.[4] The A star that seems the brighter is over twice as far as B.[10] Parallax measurements from the Gaia satellite show the two stars, HD 238107 and HD 238108, are at distances of 311 ± 1 parsec (1,013 ± 4 light-years) and 144.2 ± 0.3 parsecs (470 ± 1 light-year) respectively. HD 238108 is itself a genuine binary star, with an 18th magnitude white dwarf companion 5 arcseconds away and a parallax distance of 146.8 ± 2.3 parsecs (479 ± 8 light-years).
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Winnecke4 (also known as Messier 40 or WNC 4) is an optical double star consisting of two unrelated stars in a northerly zone of the sky, Ursa Major...
given Winnecke designations (e.g. Winnecke4), and sometimes abbreviated to WNC. Winnecke, A (1869). "Doppelsternmessungen. Von Herrn Dr. A. Winnecke" (PDF)...
Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke (1835–1897), German astronomer Lloyd Winnecke (born 1960), American politician Winnecke4, a double star in the constellation...
(M27) Open Cluster M29 Open Cluster M34 Open Cluster M35 Open Cluster M39 Winnecke4 (M40) Open Cluster M41 The Orion Nebula (M42) The De Mairan's Nebula (M43)...
wnc, may refer to: Winnecke Catalogue of Double Stars, catalogue of double stars published in 1869 Winnecke4, also known as WNC 4, a double star in the...
the relatively small-aperture refracting telescope (approximately 100 mm ≈ 4 inches) used by Messier to study the sky, they are among the brightest and...
4″ 8.93 5.10 190 G5 has a transiting planet (b) HIP 57274 57274 11h 44m 41s +30° 57′ 33 ″ 8.96 6.88 85 K5V have three planets (b, c and d) Winnecke4...
Lloyd Winnecke (born June 6, 1960) is an American politician and businessman who was the 34th mayor of Evansville, Indiana. He was elected in November...
Charles George Alexander Winnecke (18 November 1857 – 10 September 1902) was an Australian explorer and botanist best known for leading the Horn Expedition...
The Winnecke Goldfield, sometimes known as Winnecke Depot Goldfield, is a now abandoned goldfield about 70 kilometres north east of Alice Springs and...
radius. The magnitude difference between the two components is estimated to be 4.5±0.6. The estimated properties of the secondary indicate that it is most...
Major. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.61. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 13.24 mas, it is roughly 246 light...
is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.74. The distance to this star, based upon an annual parallax shift of 10.37 mas...
has an angular separation of 11.78 arcseconds along a position angle of 295.4°. This corresponds to a projected separation of 419.8 AU. It has a mass around...
than the Sun by +52%. It is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 4 km/s. The star is radiating almost three times the luminosity of the Sun from...
Major. It is visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 4.66. With an annual parallax shift of 25.82 mas, it is located about 126 light...
stars", Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, 4 (99): 99, Bibcode:1966CoLPL...4...99J. Levato, H.; Abt, H. A. (August 1978), "Spectral types...
Local officials Chris Jensen, mayor of Noblesville (2019–present) Lloyd Winnecke, former mayor of Evansville (2012–2024) Organizations Indiana Right to...
the canegrass dragon, canegrass two-line dragon, blue-lined dragon, and Winnecke's two-pored dragon, is a species of small, terrestrial, diurnal lizard in...
May 2001. The first recorded European visitor to the area was Charles Winnecke in 1878. In 1916 the chief surveyor of the Northern Territory, T. E. Day...
The meteor shower occurs when the Earth crosses the orbit of Comet Pons-Winnecke, a short-period comet which orbits the Sun about every 6.3 years. They...
Comet Hyakutake and many short-period comets such as 2P/Encke, 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 8P/Tuttle, 14P/Wolf, and 19P/Borrelly. By July 5, NASA's Parker Solar...