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70 Ophiuchi is also known as GJ 702 and HD 165341. It is a nearby pair of orange dwarves, easily visible with the naked eye when away from city lights. Star A is a DY Draconis variable star and is also known as HR 6752. It was first cataloged by William Herschel in the late 18th century during his study of binary stars, who claimed Father Meyor noticed its duplicity earlier (whose other claims could not be verified by contemporaries). He proved the two stars went around each other, an important verification of Newton's laws. He suspected another object was affecting the orbits of the two stars. Other astronomers claimed this could be a planet, such as Captain Jacob in 1855, which is one of the first claims for a planet using astrometric data. See also made a claim in 1899, but Moulton soon published a paper showing that this system would be unstable. In 1943, Reuyl again caused a sensation by claiming planets, only to be refuted again. The two stars follow an eccentric orbit ranging from 11.7 to 34.8 AU away. Star A has about 92% of the Sun's mass. The stars are thought to be 1.5 Billion Years old.
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- Aliases: 70 Ophiuchi System, Gliese 702 System, HD 165341 System, HR 6752 System
- Nearest White Main Sequence Star: Altair System