It consists of a binary pair designated 19 Tauri A together with a single star visual companion, 19 Tauri B. 'A's' two components are themselves designated 19 Tauri Aa (officially named Taygeta/teɪˈɪdʒətə/,[6] the traditional name for the entire system)[7] and Ab.
Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, 19 Tauri A is approximately 440 light-years from the Sun.
Nomenclature
19 Tauri is the system's Flamsteed designation. It also bears the little-used Bayer designationq Tauri. The designations of the two constituents as 19 Tauri A and B, and those of A's components - 19 Tauri Aa and Ab - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).[8]
The system bore the traditional name Taygeta (or Taygete).[9]Taygete was one of the Pleiades sisters in Greek mythology. In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[10] to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name Taygeta for the component 19 Tauri Aa on 21 August 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.[7]
The 8th magnitude visual companion, 19 Tauri B, is 69 arcseconds away. It is thought to be a yellow star somewhat more massive and larger than the Sun, and further away than the Pleiades cluster.[11]
Taygeta was once reported to be variable,[12] but has since been measured to be one of the least variable of stars.[13][14]
^Hessman, F. V.; Dhillon, V. S.; Winget, D. E.; Schreiber, M. R.; Horne, K.; Marsh, T. R.; Guenther, E.; Schwope, A.; Heber, U. (2010). "On the naming convention used for multiple star systems and extrasolar planets". arXiv:1012.0707 [astro-ph.SR].
^Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.