38 Lyncis

38 Lyncis is a multiple star system in the northern constellation of Lynx. It located about 125 light-years from the Sun, based on parallax.
When viewed through a moderate telescope, two components—a brighter blue-white star of magnitude 3.9 and a fainter star of magnitude 6.1 that has been described as lilac as well as blue-white—can be seen. The pair have an angular separation of and an estimated period of . The fainter component is itself a close binary which can only be resolved using speckle interferometry. The two were separated by in 1993 and in 2008, and have an estimated orbital period of . A further faint star, component E away, is a proper-motion companion. Two other faint companions listed in multiple star catalogues as components C and D are unrelated background objects.
38 Lyncis was given as a standard star for the spectral class of A3 V when the Morgan-Keenan classification system was first defined in 1943, apparently for the two components combined.
The primary star, component A, is a class A main sequence star around twice the mass of the sun. An effective temperature of and a radius of mean that it is over thirty times more luminous than the sun. It has been listed as a λ Boötis star, although it is no longer considered to be a member. The fainter of the pair, component B, has been given a spectral class of A4V, although it consists of two very close stars. Their properties are poorly-known, even the difference in their apparent magnitudes can only be estimated to be approximately 2. Based on this, their masses are estimated to be and respectively. Component E is a 15th magnitude star with an approximate spectral type of M2, a red dwarf, and an estimated mass of , and a temperature of .