Celaeno
(designated 16 Tauri) 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
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
Taurus
Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to:
* Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign
** Vṛṣabha, in vedic astrology
* Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
* Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological ch ...
and a member of the
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...
open star cluster
An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of tens to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...
(
M45) of stars.
Properties
16 Tauri is a blue-white
B-type subgiant
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 ...
with an apparent magnitude of +5.45. It is approximately 430
light years
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 Astro ...
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 ...
;
about the same distance as the Pleiades. The
interstellar extinction
In astronomy, extinction is the absorption and scattering of electromagnetic radiation by dust and gas between an emitting astronomical object and the observer. Interstellar extinction was first documented as such in 1930 by Robert Julius Trump ...
of this star is fairly small at 0.05 magnitudes.
The projected rotational velocity of the equator is 185 km/s.
[ Vizier table J/ApJ/573/359.] It is over four times the
radius of the Sun
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 ...
and has a surface temperature of 12,800 K.
Nomenclature
''16 Tauri'' is the star's
Flamsteed designation
A Flamsteed designation is a combination of a number and constellation name that uniquely identifies most naked eye stars in the 88 modern constellations, modern constellations visible from southern England. They are named after John Flamsteed, au ...
.
It bore the traditional named ''Celaeno'' (or ''Celeno'') and was called the "Lost Pleiad" by
Theon the Younger.
Celaeno was one of the
Pleiades sisters in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
. Could be related to kel anus (“black ring”). In 2016, the
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
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 catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Celaeno'' for this star on 21 August 2016 and it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.
Namesake
USS Celeno (AK-76) was a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
Crater class cargo ship named after the star.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celaeno (Star)
Tauri, 016
Taurus (constellation)
B-type subgiants
Pleiades
017489
1140
Year 1140 ( MCXL) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Levant
* Spring – King Fulk of Jerusalem confronts Imad al-Din Zengi, Seljuk ruler (''atabeg'') of Mosul, near Dara'a in southern S ...
023288
BD+23 505
Suspected variables
Celaeno
In Greek mythology, Celaeno (; ''Kelaino'', lit. 'the dark one', also Celeno or Kelaino, sometimes Calaeno) referred to several different figures.
* Celaeno, one of the Pleiades. She was said to be mother of Lycus and Nycteus, of King Eurypyl ...