Upsilon Carinae, Latinized from υ Carinae, is a

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

in the southern

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 ...

Carina Carina may refer to: Places Australia * Carina, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane * Carina Heights, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane * Carina, Victoria, a locality in Mildura Serbia * Carina, Osečina, a village in the Kolubara District ...

. It is part of the Diamond Cross asterism in southern Carina. The Upsilon Carinae system has a combined

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 +2.97 and is approximately 1,400

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

s (440

parsec The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (AU), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and ...

s) from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. 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 '' Sea Rock'', refers to an asterism consisting of υ Carinae, ε Carinae, ι Carinae,

HD 83183 HD 83183 is a single star in the southern constellation of Carina. It has the Bayer designation ''h Carinae'', while ''HD 83183'' is the star's identifier from the ''Henry Draper catalogue''. The star is blue-white in hue and is faintly v ...

and

HD 84810 HD 84810, also known as l Carinae (l Car), is a star in the southern constellation of Carina (constellation), Carina. Its apparent magnitude varies from about 3.4 to 4.1, making it readily visible to the naked eye and one of the brighte ...

. Consequently, υ Carinae itself is known as (, .) The primary component, υ Carinae A, has 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 A8 Ib, making it a

supergiant Supergiants are among the most massive and most luminous stars. Supergiant stars occupy the top region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, with absolute visual magnitudes between about −3 and −8. The temperatures of supergiant stars range ...

star that has exhausted the hydrogen at its core 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 ...

away from its brief

main sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a classification of stars which appear on plots of stellar color index, color versus absolute magnitude, brightness as a continuous and distinctive band. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or d ...

lifetime as an B-type star. With an

of +3.08, it has 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 about 7,500 K, giving it a white hue. The companion, υ Carinae B, 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 ...

with a classification of B7 III, although Mandrini and Niemela (1986) suggested it may be a

subgiant star A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as giant stars. The term subgiant is applied both to a particular spectral luminosity class and to a stage in the evolution of ...

with a classification of B4–5 IV. The outer envelope of this star has an effective temperature of around 23,000 K, resulting in the blue-white hue of a B-type star. The two stars have an

angular separation Angular distance or angular separation is the measure of the angle between the orientation of two straight lines, rays, or vectors in three-dimensional space, or the central angle subtended by the radii through two points on a sphere. When t ...

of 5.030

arcsecond 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 ...

s. As a

binary star A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

system, they would have an estimated orbital period of at least 19,500 years and a present-day separation of around 2,000

Astronomical Unit The astronomical unit (symbol: au or AU) is a unit of length defined to be exactly equal to . Historically, the astronomical unit was conceived as the average Earth-Sun distance (the average of Earth's aphelion and perihelion), before its m ...

s. This system is roughly 12 million years old. In the next 7500 years, the south Celestial pole will pass close to these stars and

Iota Carinae Iota Carinae (ι Carinae, abbreviated Iota Car, ι Car), officially named Aspidiske , is a star in the southern constellation of Carina. With an apparent visual magnitude of 2.2, it is one of the brighter stars in the night sky. Appea ...

(8100 CE).

References

External links

Southern Sky Photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Upsilon Carinae Carina (constellation) Carinae, Upsilon B-type subgiants Double stars A-type supergiants 048002 085123 3890 PD-64 01084