Rho Aurigae (ρ Aur, ρ Aurigae) is the

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. T ...

for a

binary star A binary star 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 using a telescope as separate stars, in ...

system in the northern constellation of Auriga. It is faintly 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 +5.22. Judging by

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 object ...

measurements, this system is approximately distant from the Earth, give or take a 30-light-year

margin of error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in the results of a survey. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that a poll result would reflect the result of a census of the en ...

System

ρ Aurigae is a single-lined spectroscopic binary system; the presence of a companion object is revealed by shifts in the

stellar spectrum Astronomical spectroscopy is the study of astronomy using the techniques of spectroscopy to measure the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, infrared and radio waves that radiate from stars and other ...

. The pair orbit each other with a period of 34.49 days and an

orbital eccentricity In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values b ...

of 0.10. The primary component of this system is a

B-type main-sequence star A B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K. B-type stars ...

defined as a standard star for the

stellar classification 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 t ...

of B5 V. The deduced mass of the secondary and the lack of evidence for it in the spectrum suggest it may be a B- or

A-type star An A-type main-sequence star (A V) or A dwarf star is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type A and luminosity class V (five). These stars have spectra defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines. They measure between 1 ...

somewhat less luminous than the primary.

Name

In Chinese, (), meaning '' Pool of Harmony'', refers to an asterism consisting of ρ Aurigae,

λ Aurigae Lambda Aurigae, Latinized from λ Aurigae, is the Bayer designation for a solar analog star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.71. Based upon parallax measure ...

and

HD 36041 HD 36041 is giant star in the northern constellation Auriga. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.37, making it faintly visible to the naked eye. References External links HR 1825CCDM J05307+ 3950Image HD 36041 Auriga (constellation) ...

. 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 oft ...

for ρ Aurigae itself is (, en, the First Star of Pool of Harmony).

References

External links

HR 1749
in

Bright Star Catalogue The Bright Star Catalogue, also known as the Yale Catalogue of Bright Stars, Yale Bright Star Catalogue, or just YBS, is a star catalogue that lists all stars of stellar magnitude 6.5 or brighter, which is roughly every star visible to the na ...

ρ Aurigae
image {{DEFAULTSORT:Rho Aurigae 034759 Spectroscopic binaries 025048 Aurigae, Rho Auriga (constellation) B-type main-sequence stars Aurigae, 20

1749 Events January–March * January 3 ** Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont. ** The first issue of ''Berlingske'', Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, ...

Durchmusterung objects

System

Name

References

Further reading

External links