Delta Pictoris, Latinized from δ Pictoris, is a binary star system in the southern constellation Pictor. It is visible to the naked with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 4.72.[2] The system is located at a distance of approximately 1,300 light years from the Sun based on parallax measurements,[1] and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of ~31 km/s.[9] It is a runaway star system that is generating a bow shock as it moves through the interstellar medium.[13]
The binary nature of this system was discovered by R. E. Wilson in 1914,[10] then it was found to be variable by A. W. J. Cousins in 1951.[15] A. D. A. Thackeray published orbital elements for the pair in 1966, showing they form an eclipsing double-lined spectroscopic binary with an orbital period of 1.67 days in essentially a circular orbit.[10] The low inclination of the orbital plane results in shallow eclipses.[3] The system is classified as a likely Beta Lyrae-type eclipsing binary with a peak magnitude of 4.65, which drops to 4.90 during the primary eclipse and 4.83 in the secondary eclipse.[7] It is probably a detached binary system with no circumstellar material being found.[3]
Both components of this system are massive main sequence stars[3] with a combined stellar classification of B1/2(III)n.[4] One member of the pair displays β Cep type pulsational behavior.[8] Mass estimates give a primary with 16.3 times the mass of the Sun and a secondary with about half that.[11]