Expert: Jayendra Upadhye - 9/24/2005

Question
Hi
I am interested in the distance of    SO 025300.5+165258    ("Teegarden's Star").   I have heard all kinds of distances from 7 ly to 12 ly.   Does anyone have any solid info on this star's actual distance or is it still as yet undetermined?
Sincerely,
Kurt Foge


Answer
Hi strange!
I already answered this question yesterday! i had included 2 great sites in answer to your question..
too bad i may not be able to replicate my search again exactly..
however let em tell you that
1 - initial observations in 2003 placed the star at 7 light years approx, but that would have made it to be smaller than jupiter to account for its luminosity.

2 - subsequent observations in tandem with study of its metallicity placed the star well at 11.something lightyears, and that gave it a diameter 1/7th that of sol. (about 140 times that of jupiter).

just type "teegarden's star" into yahoo and on the very first page you will find two links giving the reason why there was this discrepancy. (low visibility ..luminosity and high parallax related error.)
jayen