IY Comae Berenices Spectral Class

Hello, everyone here on www.irishastronomy.org . 

 

I have big news for you all from Simbad!

One of their representatives has replied to an email I sent, which my wife translated into French, and has stated that IY Comae Berenices ought to be considered as having a spectral class of K9. 

One of the Cloudy Nights contributors called Mwr stated that this same star with the designation HD 108815 as having a spectral class of K9 also. He provided a link from December 2012 from adsabs.harvard.edu which gave that precise spectral class. Therefore I now congratulate Mwr for providing with this ultimate truth. 

I now believe that the AAVSO people are not correct in saying that IY Com has a spectral class of M2.
Sorry about that!  

It's clear to me they need to correct themselves and to agree with both Simbad and adsabs.harvard.edu. on K9. 

My Guide 9.1 DVD simply agrees with AAVSO when they say IY Com is M2 also. Project Pluto is very often quoting from AAVSO on its program.

K9 stars must be very rare.  There must be precious little difference between K9 and M0 in spectral class. 

I don't believe I have ever observed a K8 or a K9 star. Stars whose spectral class is K7 I certainly have observed alright.

Therefore IY Com is the only such spectral class of K9 I have ever observed.   

In closing, if anyone now visits the Basic Query link on Simbad, they will see the welcoming sight of seeing IY Com as a K9 star. It most certainly is not a carbon star. It's an orange star and a very good one at that. 

I have observed it a number of times and I must say I greatly admire its colour with my William Optics 158 mm F/7 apochromatic refractor. And I will do so again during Spring 2021. It is very close to the double star 24 Comae Berenices which is another beauty because of its colours. 

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

Very interesting Aubrey. I see on Stellarium the star is designated M ellipsis (M...), which might imply they were unsure about the exact class. All credit to you for contacting Simbad and getting the situation clarified. Melotte 111, one of my favourite naked eye sights in the sky, is nearby too.

Continued clear skies,
Finbarr.

Hello, Finbarr. 

I do thank you very much for giving us this piece of information. 

As "Ellipsis" is a completely new term to me I am going to have to check at that word on Google. 

By the way, does anyone know of any spectroscopist here in Ireland whether north or south? 
None of them over on Cloudy Nights have returned any opinion to my recent comments as yet in regards to IY Comae. 

Thank you from Aubrey. 

  

As Finbarr said, very well done on contacting SIMBAD Aubrey. And of course credit to Valerie for helping to translate the message into French.

I'm now off to check out the amended version where I'll smile with delight seeing the contribution you all made. 

Kindest regards, 

Darren. 

 

Hello, Finbarr, Darren and everyone else. 

I have discovered what that word "Ellipsis" means. 
It means the ... after anything written.
It's always good to learn something new everyday. 

Also for those of you who keep an eye over on Cloudy Nights, a very good man from New Zealand has put up a post on the Scientific Amateur Astronomy forum under my heading IY Comae Berenices conundrum.

If you scroll down to post no. 5 and clip on the link he provides you will see the spectral lines of K7V, K8V, K9V and M0V.  
I have to say they are all rather similar - very little difference especially between K9 and M0. 

All I can say is, it must be a spectroscopist's nightmare to differentiate between them all. 

However I'm very happy to say IY Com is a K9 star at last!!

Clear skies from Aubrey.     

Hi Aubrey,

Very many thanks for pointing us in the direction of the Scientific Amateur Astronomy forum on Cloudy Nights. Having just checked the most recent post (#, it seems like the plot just thickened. I have to admit though the content is far beyond my knowledge, but I'm looking forward to reading more about IY Comae Berenices.

Clear skies,

Darren.