Nu Aquarii is a

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

in the equatorial

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 ...

of Aquarius. The name is a

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 ...

that is Latinized from ν Aquarii, and abbreviated Nu Aqr or ν Aqr. With an

apparent visual magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the 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 of the object's light ca ...

of 4.52, Nu Aquarii is faintly visible to the

naked eye Naked eye, also called bare eye or unaided eye, is the practice of engaging in visual perception unaided by a magnification, magnifying, Optical telescope#Light-gathering power, light-collecting optical instrument, such as a telescope or microsc ...

. Its distance from Earth, as determined from

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...

measurements, is . The star is drifting closer to the Sun with a

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity of a target with respect to an observer is the rate of change of the vector displacement between the two points. It is formulated as the vector projection of the target-observer relative velocity ...

of −11 km/s. At an estimated age of 708 million years, Nu Aquarii has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its

core Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (laboratory), a highly specialized shared research resource * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber ...

and

evolved Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

into 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 ...

with a

spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

that matches a

stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction gratin ...

of G8 III. It has double the

mass of the Sun The solar mass () is a frequently used unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies a ...

and has expanded to eight times the

Sun's radius Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of objects in astronomy relative to the Sun. The solar radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the Sun's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3: 1\,R_ = 6.957\ti ...

. Nu Aquarii is radiating 37 times the

luminosity of the Sun The solar luminosity () is a unit of radiant flux ( power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of the Sun. One nominal s ...

from its

photosphere The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated. It extends into a star's surface until the plasma becomes opaque, equivalent to an optical depth of approximately , or equivalently, a depth from which 50% of light will esc ...

at an

effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...

of . At this heat, the star is glowing with the yellowish hue of a

G-type star In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the ...

. Together with μ Aquarii, it is

Albulaan The traditional star name Albulaan refers to two stars in the Aquarius constellation: * μ Aquarii * ν Aquarii The name derives from the Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasi ...

, a name derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

term ''al-bulaʽān'' (''ألبولعان''), meaning "the two swallowers". This star, along with ε Aqr (Albali) and

μ Aqr Mu Aquarii is the for a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from μ Aquarii, and abbreviated Mu Aqr or μ Aqr. The star is visible to the naked eye with a ...

(Albulaan), were ''al Bulaʽ'' (''البلع'')—the Swallower. In

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

, (), meaning '' Celestial Ramparts'', refers to an asterism consisting of ν Aquarii,

ξ Aquarii Xi Aquarii is a binary star system in the celestial equator, equatorial constellation of Aquarius (constellation), Aquarius. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Romanization of Greek, Latinized from ξ Aquarii, and abbreviated Xi Aq ...

, 46 Capricorni, 47 Capricorni, λ Capricorni, 50 Capricorni, 18 Aquarii, 29 Capricorni, 9 Aquarii, 8 Aquarii, 14 Aquarii, 17 Aquarii and 19 Aquarii. Consequently, the

Chinese name Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethni ...

for ν Aquarii itself is (, ).AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 5 月 15 日

References

External links

Image Nu Aquarii

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nu Aquarii G-type giants Aquarius (constellation) Aquarii, Nu 8093 Durchmusterung objects Aquarii, 013 201381 104459