Traditionally representing the mouth of the fish, Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation and the 19th-brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of 1.16. Located 25.13 ± 0.09 light-years away, it is a white main-sequence star that is 1.92 ± 0.02 times as massive and 16.63 ± 0.48 as luminous as the Sun. Its companion Fomalhaut b was thought to be the first extrasolar planet ever detected by a visible light image, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, but infrared observations have since retracted this claim: it is instead a spherical cloud of dust. TW Piscis Austrini can be seen close by and is possibly associated with Fomalhaut as it lies within a light-year of it. Of magnitude 6.5, it is a BY Draconis variable.
Traditionally representing the mouth of the fish, Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation and the 19th-brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of 1.16. Located 2513 ± 0.09 light-years away, it is a white main-sequence star that is 1.92 ± 0.02 times as massive and 16.63 ± 0.48 as luminous as the Sun. Its companion Fomalhaut b was thought to be the first extrasolar planet ever detected by a visible light image, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, but infrared observations have since retracted this claim: it is instead a spherical cloud of dust. TW Piscis Austrini can be seen close by and is possibly associated with Fomalhaut as it lies within a light-year of it. Of magnitude 6.5, it is a BY Draconis variable.