A 2019 study usingPIONIER (VLTI) and 32 years ofradial velocity measurements concluded that HD 256 is instead abinary star. The variable component of thespectral lines do not come fromexocomets according to this study, but rather from the binarity. Each individual star holds its own circumstellar shell. The pair have an orbital period of 2.05 years, an eccentricity of around 0.23, and a semimajor axis of3.08 AU.[7] The adjusted classification is of a rapidly rotatingmain sequence shell star of type A3Vn sh.[3]
^abcCutri, Roc M.; Skrutskie, Michael F.; Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Beichman, Charles A.; Carpenter, John M.; Chester, Thomas; Cambresy, Laurent; Evans, Tracey E.; Fowler, John W.; Gizis, John E.; Howard, Elizabeth V.; Huchra, John P.; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Kopan, Eugene L.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Light, Robert M.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; McCallon, Howard L.; Schneider, Stephen E.; Stiening, Rae; Sykes, Matthew J.; Weinberg, Martin D.; Wheaton, William A.; Wheelock, Sherry L.; Zacarias, N. (2003)."VizieR Online Data Catalog: 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources (Cutri+ 2003)".CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues.2246: II/246.Bibcode:2003yCat.2246....0C.
^Lagrange-Henri, A. M.; et al. (January 1990). "HR 10 : a new beta Pictoris-like star ?".Astronomy & Astrophysics.227:L13 –L16.Bibcode:1990A&A...227L..13L.ISSN0004-6361.
^Houk, N.; Smith-Moore, M. (1988).Michigan Catalogue of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD Stars. Vol. 4.Bibcode:1988mcts.book.....H.