Kapteyn's Star

Ownership: UCP
Spectral class: M0 orange-red
Absolute magnitude: 10.88
Diameter: 420,000 km
Location: Galactic Halo
Age: Estimated at 11.5 billion years

Located 13 light years away from Sol system, Kapteyn's Star (HIP 24186) is an M-type red dwarf and the central component of the Kapteyn's Star system.

Proper motion & origin

Kapteyn's star is a halo star with a steep galactic orbit through the plane of the galaxy. Such stars are thought to be remnants of an ancient elliptical galaxy that was shredded and subsequently absorbed by our own Milky Way galaxy early on in its history. Its high relative velocity and retrograde orbit identify Kapteyn's Star as a member of a remnant moving group of stars, the core of which may have been the glorious Omega Centauri star cluster.