G Scorpii (abbreviated G Sco), also named Fuyue, is a

giant star A giant star has a substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature. They lie above the main sequence (luminosity class V in the Yerkes spectral classification) on the Hertzsp ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Scorpius Scorpius is a zodiac constellation located in the Southern celestial hemisphere, where it sits near the center of the Milky Way, between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. Scorpius is an ancient constellation whose recognition pred ...

. It has an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of +3.19. It is approximately 126

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...

s from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

Nomenclature

''G Scorpii'' is the star's

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek alphabet, Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive case, genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer design ...

. It was formerly situated in the constellation of

Telescopium Telescopium is a minor constellation in the southern Celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere, one of twelve named in the 18th century by French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille and one of several depicting scientific instruments. Its name i ...

where it was designated ''γ Telescopii'', Latinised to ''Gamma Telescopii''. It was resited in Scorpius and redesignated G Scorpii by

Benjamin Apthorp Gould Benjamin Apthorp Gould (September 27, 1824 – November 26, 1896) was a pioneering American astronomer. He is noted for creating the ''Astronomical Journal'', discovering the Gould Belt, and for founding of the Argentine National Observatory and ...

. G Scorpii bore the traditional name ''Fuyue'' () in ancient

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Fu Yue Fu Yue ("Mentor Yue"), also known as Hou Que (侯雀; ''Hóu Què'', "Lord Sparrow"), was an official who served as minister from Fuyan (present-day Pinglu County, Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi i ...

was a former slave that became a high-ranking minister to

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

ruler

Wu Ding Wu Ding (; died ); personal name (), was a king of the Chinese Shang dynasty who ruled the central Yellow River valley. He is the earliest figure in Chinese history mentioned in contemporary records. The annals of the Shang dynasty compiled by l ...

. In 2016, the IAU organized a

Working Group on Star Names The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under Division C – Education ...

(WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name Fuyue for this star on 30 June 2017 and it is now so included in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.

Properties

G Scorpii is an orange K-type

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

. It is about 20% more massive than the Sun. The measured

angular diameter The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the ''visual an ...

is . At the estimated distance of this system, this yields a physical size 16.4 times that of the Sun. With an effective surface temperature of , it has a

bolometric luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic energy per unit time, and is synonymous with the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per ...

of . Evolutionary models show that G Scorpii has probably left the

red giant branch The red-giant branch (RGB), sometimes called the first giant branch, is the portion of the giant branch before helium ignition occurs in the course of stellar evolution. It is a stage that follows the main sequence for low- to intermediate-mass st ...

and is now fusing helium in its core. This makes it a

red clump The red clump is a clustering of red giants in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram at around 5,000 K and absolute magnitude (MV) +0.5, slightly hotter than most red-giant-branch stars of the same luminosity. It is visible as a denser region of ...

star, at the cool end of the

horizontal branch The horizontal branch (HB) is a stage of stellar evolution that immediately follows the red-giant branch in stars whose masses are similar to the Sun's. Horizontal-branch stars are powered by helium fusion in the core (via the triple-alpha proc ...

. Just 5

arcminutes A minute of arc, arcminute (abbreviated as arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of a degree. Since one degree is of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is of a tu ...

to the east is the

globular cluster A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards its center. It can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars, all orbiting ...

NGC 6441. At magnitude 3.2, G Scorpii is around 40 times brighter than the entire globular cluster.

References

{{Stars of Scorpius Scorpii, G CD-37 11907 6630 161892 087261 K-type giants Scorpius Fuyue Horizontal-branch stars