S Normae (S Nor) is a

yellow supergiant A yellow supergiant (YSG) is a star, generally of spectral type F or G, having a supergiant luminosity class (e.g. Ia or Ib). They are stars that have evolved away from the main sequence, expanding and becoming more luminous. Yellow supergiants ...

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

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 ...

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) ** Norma Lizbeth Ramos, a Mexican bullying victim Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid * Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral ...

. It is the brightest member of the

open 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 ...

NGC 6087 NGC 6087 (also known as Caldwell 89 or the S Normae Cluster) is an open cluster of 40 or more Burnham's ''Celestial Handbook'' gives the number 40, though other studies go as high as 349; see Stephen James O'Meara, ''The Caldwell Objects'', Cambr ...

. S Normae is a Classical Cepheid variable with a visual magnitude range of 6.12 to 6.77 and a period of 9.75411 days. The spectral type varies during the pulsation cycle from F8 to G0. Its mass has been measured at with reference to a close orbital companion, and it is over 3,000 times as luminous as the sun.

Companions

S Normae is a spectroscopic binary, although the companion has now been resolved using the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

Wide Field Camera 3 The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is the Hubble Space Telescope's last and most technologically advanced instrument to take images in the visible spectrum. It was installed as a replacement for the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 during the first ...

. The separation was 0.90" in April 2011, corresponding to 817 AU. This gives the rare opportunity for a direct determination of the mass of a Cepheid variable star and confirmation of other properties. It is a supergiant that is 6.3 times as massive as the Sun and 2,800 times as luminous. The companion a blue-white main sequence star of spectral type B9.5. SNorLightCurve

There is a more distant 10th magnitude companion at 30", unsurprising in the centre of an open cluster. It is TYC 8719-794-1, a chemically peculiar A or B class star. Three fainter companions have also been found: a 14th magnitude star at 14"; and two 16th magnitude stars at 20".

References

External links

Light curves in UBVRI colours
{{DEFAULTSORT:S Normae Norma (constellation) Normae, S F-type supergiants 146323 6062 Classical Cepheid variables B-type main-sequence stars Durchmusterung objects 079932 Binary stars