EQ Tauri

EQ Tauri is a triple star system in Taurus that contains a contact eclipsing binary. With a baseline apparent visual magnitude of 10.5, it is too dim to see without a telescope. During primary eclipse, brightness falls to magnitude 11.03, and to 10.97 during the secondary minimum, which is total. Parallax measurements place the system about 730 light-years from the Sun. The binary is a shallow contact system of W Ursae Majoris sub-type A, with an orbital period of 0.341348 days and a semimajor axis of 2.48 times the Sun's radius. The more massive star is a solar-type star with a deep convection zone, showing magnetic activity and substantial star spot coverage.