Gamma Piscium (γ Piscium) is a star approximately 135 light years away from Earth in the zodiac constellation of Pisces. It is a yellow star with a spectral type of G8 III, meaning it has a surface temperature of 4,833 K and is a giant star. It is slightly cooler than the Sun, yet it is 11 solar radii in size and shines with the light of 63 Suns. The star is a member of the red clump, which means it is undergoing core helium fusion. At an apparent magnitude of 3.7, it is the second brightest star in the constellation Pisces, between Eta and Alpha.
Gamma Piscium moves across the sky at three-quarters of an arcsecond per year, which at 135 light years corresponds to 153 kilometers per second. This suggests it is a visitor from another part of the Milky Way Galaxy; in astronomical terms, it will quickly leave the vicinity of the Sun. Its metallicity is only one-fourth that of the Sun, and visitors from outside the thin disk that composes the Milky Way tend to be metal-poor. Gamma Piscium is part of the asterism known as the "circlet of Pisces."[1]
In Chinese, Chinese: 霹靂 (Chinese: Pī Lì), meaning Thunderbolt, refers to an asterism consisting of γ Piscium, β Piscium, θ Piscium, ι Piscium and ω Piscium. Consequently, the Chinese name for γ Piscium itself is Chinese: 霹靂二 (Chinese: Pī Lì èr, English: the Second Star of Thunderbolt.)[2]
In 2021, a gas giant planet was detected by the radial velocity method.
In Frank Herbert's Dune series, the fictional planet of Salusa Secundus, the former home system of Imperial House Corrino and later a prison planet, orbits Gamma Waiping (the Chinese name for Pisces).