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Historical Brightest Stars
The Solar System and all of the visible stars are in different orbits about the core of the Milky Way galaxy. Thus, their relative positions change over time, and for the nearer stars this movement can be measured. As a star moves toward or away from us, its apparent brightness changes. Sirius is currently the brightest star in Earth's night sky, but it has not always been so. Canopus has persistently been the brightest star over the ages; other stars appear brighter only during relatively temporary periods, during which they are passing the Solar System at a much closer distance than Canopus. Working out exactly which stars were or will be the brightest at any given point in the past or future is difficult since it requires precise 3D proper motions of large numbers of stars and precise distances. This information only started to become available with the 1997 ''Hipparcos'' satellite data release. Jocelyn Tomkin used this data to compile a list of brightest star in Earth's night s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar System" and "solar system" structures in theinaming guidelines document. The name is commonly rendered in lower case ('solar system'), as, for example, in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' an''Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary''. is the gravitationally bound Planetary system, system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. It Formation and evolution of the Solar System, formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, forming the Sun and a protoplanetary disc. The Sun is a typical star that maintains a hydrostatic equilibrium, balanced equilibrium by the thermonuclear fusion, fusion of hydrogen into helium at its stellar core, core, releasing this energy from its outer photosphere. As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beta Canis Majoris
Beta Canis Majoris (β Canis Majoris, abbreviated Beta CMa, β CMa), also named Mirzam , is a star in the southern constellation of Canis Major, the "Great Dog", located at a distance of about 500 light-years (150 parsecs) from the Sun. In the modern constellation it lies at the position of the dog's front leg. Nomenclature ''Beta Canis Majoris'' is the star's Bayer designation. The traditional names ''Mirzam'', ''Al-Murzim'' or ''Murzim'', derive from the Arabic (مرزم) for 'The Herald', and probably refer to its position, heralding (i.e., rising before) Sirius in the night sky. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included ''Mirzam'' for this star. In Chinese, (), meaning ' Market for Soldiers', refers to an asterism consisting of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albireo
Albireo is a binary star designated Beta Cygni (β Cygni, abbreviated Beta Cyg, β Cyg). The International Astronomical Union uses the name "Albireo" specifically for the brightest star in the system. Although designated 'beta', it is fainter than Gamma Cygni, Delta Cygni, and Epsilon Cygni and is the fifth-brightest point of light in the constellation of Cygnus. Appearing to the naked eye to be a single star of magnitude 3, viewing through even a low-magnification telescope resolves it into its two components. The brighter yellow star, itself a very close trinary system, makes a striking colour contrast with its fainter blue companion. Nomenclature ''β Cygni'' ( Latinised to ''Beta Cygni'') is the system's Bayer designation. The brighter of the two components is designated ''β¹ Cygni'' or ''Beta Cygni A'' and the fainter ''β² Cygni'' or ''Beta Cygni B''. The origin of the star system's traditional name ''Albireo'' is unclear. Christian Ludwig Ideler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omicron Herculis
Omicron Herculis, Latinized from o Herculis, is a star in the constellation Hercules. It used to be called Masym ("the wrist"), but this name was transferred to Lambda Herculis. Properties Omicron Herculis is a B9.5III star approximately 106 pc from the Earth. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.83. The star radiates with a bluish-white hue, and has a luminosity approximately 355 times as bright as the Sun. Omicron Herculis is 3.49 solar masses. Stellar evolutionary caclulations show that it has just left the main sequence. Omicron Herculis is an eruptive variable of the Gamma Cassiopeiae class, which are rapidly rotating B-class stars with mass outflow. It has a projected rotational velocity of 194 km/s. Some sources list Omicron Herculis as being both spectroscopic and an interferometric binary star with a separation of about 60 milliarcseconds, although the companion star has not been confirmed. Omicron Hercules is notable for residing close to the coordinate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NR Canis Majoris
NR Canis Majoris is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major, located to the east of Sirius and Gamma Canis Majoris near the constellation border with Puppis. It has a yellow-white hue and is dimly visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude that fluctuates around 5.60. It is located at a distance of approximately 297 light years from the Sun based on parallax. The system is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −29 km/s, and in about three million years it is predicted to approach within . At that time, the star will become the brightest in the night sky, potentially reaching magnitude −0.88. The magnitude 5.66 primary component is an F-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of F2V. The star was discovered to be a variable star when the ''Hipparcos'' data was analyzed. It was given its variable star designation, NR Canis Majoris, in 1999. It is a Delta Scuti variable that varies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upsilon Librae
Upsilon Librae (υ Lib, υ Librae) is the Bayer designation for a double star in the zodiac constellation Libra. With an apparent visual magnitude of 3.628, it is visible to the naked eye. The distance to this star, based upon an annual parallax shift of 14.58, is around 224 light years. It has a magnitude 10.8 companion at an angular separation of 2.0 arc seconds along a position angle of 151°, as of 2002. The brighter component is an evolved K-type giant star with a stellar classification of K3 III. The measured angular diameter, after correction for limb darkening, is . At the estimated distance of the star, this yields a physical size of about 31.5 times the radius of the Sun. It has 1.67 times the mass of the Sun and radiates 309 times the solar luminosity from its outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of 4,135 K. The star is about three billion years old. Upsilon Librae will be the brightest star in the night sky in about 2.3 million ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gamma Draconis
Gamma Draconis (γ Draconis, abbreviated Gamma Dra, γ Dra), formally named Eltanin , is a star in the northern constellation of Draco. Contrary to its gamma-designation (historically third-ranked), it is the brightest object in Draco at magnitude 2.2, outshining Beta Draconis by nearly half a magnitude and Alpha Draconis by over a magnitude. Gamma Draconis is at a distance of from the Sun, as determined by parallax measurements from the Hipparcos astrometry satellite. In 1728, while unsuccessfully attempting to measure the star's parallax, James Bradley discovered the aberration of light resulting from the relative movement of the Earth. Bradley's discovery confirmed Copernicus' theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun. It is drifting closer to the Solar System with a radial velocity of about –28 km/s. In 1.5 million years, Gamma Draconis will pass within 28 light-years of Earth. For a period, if its current absolute magnitude does not change, it will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta Scuti
Delta Scuti, Latinized from δ Scuti, is a variable star in the southern constellation Scutum. With an apparent visual magnitude that fluctuates around 4.72, it is the fifth-brightest star in this small and otherwise undistinguished constellation. Analysis of the parallax measurements place this star at a distance of about from Earth. It is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −43 km/s. Variability In 1900, William W. Campbell and William H. Wright used the Mills spectrograph at the Lick Observatory to determine that this star has a variable radial velocity. The period of this variability as well as 0.2 magnitude changes in luminosity demonstrated in 1935 that the variability was intrinsic, rather than being the result of a spectroscopic binary. In 1938, a secondary period was discovered and a pulsation theory was proposed to model the variation. Since then, observation of Delta Scuti has shown that it pulsates in multiple discrete radial and non-radi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beta Aurigae
Beta Aurigae is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Auriga (constellation), Auriga. Its identifier is a Bayer designation that is Romanization of Greek, Latinized from β Aurigae, and abbreviated Beta Aur or β Aur. This star has the official name Menkalinan, pronounced . The combined apparent visual magnitude of the system is 1.9, making it the second-brightest member of the constellation after Capella (star), Capella. Using the stellar parallax, parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, the distance to this star system can be estimated as , give or take a half-light-year margin of error. It is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −18 km/s. Along their respective orbits around the Milky Way, Beta Aurigae and the Sun are closing in on each other, so that in around one million years it will become the brightest star in the night sky. It is predicted to come as close as in 1.31 million years. Nomenclature ''β ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood. It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed "arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun". Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BCE and will be so again around the year 13,727, when its declination will be . Vega was the first star other than the Sun to have its image and spectrum photographed. It was one of the first stars whose distance was estimated through parallax measurements. Vega has functioned as the baseline for calibrating the photometric brightness scale and was one of the stars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capella
Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the list of brightest stars, sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega. A prominent object in the northern winter sky, it is Circumpolar star, circumpolar to observers north of 44°N. Its name meaning "little goat" in Latin, Capella depicted the goat Amalthea (mythology), Amalthea that suckled Zeus in classical mythology. Capella is relatively close, at . It is one of the brightest X-ray sources in the sky, thought to come primarily from the stellar corona, corona of Capella Aa. Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, Capella is actually a quadruple star system organized in two binary star, binary pairs, made up of the stars Capella Aa, Capella Ab, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldebaran
Aldebaran () is a star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It has the Bayer designation α Tauri, which is Latinized to Alpha Tauri and abbreviated Alpha Tau or α Tau. Aldebaran varies in brightness from an apparent visual magnitude of 0.75 down to 0.95, making it the brightest star in the constellation, as well as (typically) the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky. It is at a distance of approximately 67 light-years. The star lies along the line of sight to the nearby Hyades cluster. Aldebaran is a red giant, meaning that it is cooler than the Sun with a surface temperature of , but its radius is about 45 times the Sun's, so it is over 400 times as luminous. As a giant star, it has moved off the main sequence on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram after depleting its supply of hydrogen in the core. The star spins slowly and takes 520 days to complete a rotation. Together with the star Alpha Tauri B (Alderbaran B), it makes a star system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
