Epsilon Delphini (ε Delphini, abbreviated Eps Del, ε Del), officially named Aldulfin , is a solitary, blue-white hued

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the northern

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 origins of the e ...

Delphinus Delphinus (Pronounced or ) is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, close to the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-Europea ...

. It is visible to the naked eye with an

apparent visual magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's lig ...

of 4.03. Based upon an annual

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

shift of 9.87

mas Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * Más ( ...

as seen from the Earth, the system is located about 330

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. At Epsilon Delphini's distance, the

visual magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's ...

is diminished by an extinction factor of 0.11 due to

interstellar dust Cosmic dust, also called extraterrestrial dust, star dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, or has fallen on Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and 0.1 mm (100 micrometers). Larger particles are c ...

. The star is moving closer to the Sun with a

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

of −19 km/s. This is a B-type

giant star A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main sequence, main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same effective temperature, surface temperature.Giant star, entry in ''Astronomy Encyclopedia'', ed. Patrick Moo ...

with 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 grati ...

of B6 III. It has 4.6 times the Sun's radius and is radiating 676 times the

solar luminosity 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. The term itself is derived from Ancient Greek roots, φῶς, φωτός/''phos, photos'' meaning "light" and σφαῖρα/''sphaira'' meaning "sphere", in reference to it ...

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 13,614 K. The star may be slightly variable, occasionally brightening to magnitude 3.95. It is spinning with a

projected rotational velocity Stellar rotation is the angular motion of a star about its axis. The rate of rotation can be measured from the spectrum of the star, or by timing the movements of active features on the surface. The rotation of a star produces an equatorial bulge ...

of 52 km/s.

Proper names

''ε Delphini'' ( Latinised to ''Epsilon Delphini'') is the star's

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...

. The star bore the traditional

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

name ''ðanab ad-dulfīn'' or Dzaneb al Delphin, which appeared in the catalogue of stars in the ''Calendarium of Al Achsasi Al Mouakket'' and which was translated into

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

as ''Cauda Delphini'', meaning 'the dolphin's tail'. In 2016, the IAU 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 catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Aldulfin'' for this star on 5 September 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. In

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

, (), meaning '' Rotten Gourd'', refers to an asterism consisting of Epsilon Delphini,

Eta Delphini Eta Delphini, Latinized from η Delphini, is a candidate astrometric binary star system in the northern constellation of Delphinus. It has an apparent magnitude of about 5.4, meaning that it is faintly visible to the naked eye. Based upon ...

Theta Delphini Theta Delphini, a name Latinized from θ Delphini, is a single star in the northern constellation of Delphinus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of about 5.7, meaning that it is just barely visible to the naked eye under excellent vie ...

Iota Delphini Iota Delphini (ι Del, ι Delphini) is a star in the constellation Delphinus. It has an apparent magnitude of about 5.4, meaning that it is just barely visible to the naked eye. Based upon parallax measurements made by the Gaia spacecraft ...

and

Kappa Delphini κ Delphini (Latinised as Kappa Delphini, abbreviated to κ Del or kappa Del) is a binary star system in the constellation Delphinus. It is faintly visible to the naked eye, with an apparent magnitude of 5.05. It is located about 98.8 li ...

. Consequently, the

Chinese name Chinese names or Chinese personal names are names used by individuals from Greater China and other parts of the Chinese-speaking world throughout East and Southeast Asia (ESEA). In addition, many names used in Japan, Korea and Vietnam are often a ...

for Epsilon Delphini itself is (, en, the First Star of Rotten Gourd.).香港太空館 - 研究資源 - 亮星中英對照表
, Hong Kong Space Museum. Accessed on line November 23, 2010. From this Chinese name, the name ''Pae Chaou'' was formed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epsilon Delphini B-type giants Suspected variables Delphinus Delphini, Epsilon Aldulfin Durchmusterung objects Delphini, 02 195810 101421 7852