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........................
Procyon A4.340.80.40731.11.501.4-2.3......1.4
Inner H.Z. Edge?2.02.28031.1...............
Outer H.Z. Edge?4.06.54031.1...............
Procyon B10.740.80.40731.10.600.02......1.4


NOTE: This animation attempts to relate the possible orbits of Procyon AB (and a possibly disrupted habitable zone around Procyon A) to their common center of mass. To enlarge the display, the orbits have been arbitrarily rotated by 135 degrees. Although the initial display shows the system's actual orbital tilt (at an inclination of 31.1°) from the visual perspective of an observer on Earth, the orbital inclination of any planet that may be discovered someday around Star A would likely be different from that of the habitable zone orbit depicted here.

Previous estimates of the orbital elements of this binary system calculated by Irwin et al in 1992 and by Kaj Aage Gunnar Strand (1907-2000) in 1951 have been superceded. Based on new measurements (Girard et al, 2000) found in the new Sixth Catalog of Visual Orbits of Binary Stars, Procyon A and B may be separated on average by a semi-major axis of 14.9 AUs (4.271") in an elliptical orbit (e= 0.407) that takes 40.82 years to complete. The distance separating the two stars varies from 8.9 and 21.0 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 31.1°, from the perspective of an observer on Earth.


 

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