Beta Chamaeleontis,
Latinized from β Chamaeleontis, is the third-brightest
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 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 ...
of
Chamaeleon. A solitary,
[ suspected variable star, it is visible to the naked eye as a faint blue-white point of light with an apparent visual magnitude that has been measured ranging between 4.24 and 4.30.][ Parallax measurements yield a distance estimate of 298 light years from the Sun, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +23 km/s.][
This is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B4 V][ that is generating energy through core hydrogen fusion. It has been catalogued both as a Be star][ and a normal star.][ This object is about 23][ million years old with a high projected rotational velocity of 255 km/s.][ The star has five][ times the mass of the Sun and 2.8][ times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 212][ times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 14,495 K.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beta Chamaeleontis
B-type main-sequence stars
Be stars
Chamaeleon
Chamaeleontis, Beta
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