Achernar
 The position of Achernar (lower right). |
|
| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 |
|
|---|---|
| Constellation | Eridanus |
| Right ascension | 01h 37m 42.84548s[1] |
| Declination | –57° 14′ 12.3101″[1] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 0.445[2] |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | B6 Vep[3] |
| U−B color index | −0.64[2] |
| B−V color index | −0.17[2] |
| Variable type | Lambda Eridani |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | +16[4] km/s |
| Proper motion (μ) | RA: 87.00 ± 0.58[1] mas/yr Dec.: −38.24 ± 0.50[1] mas/yr |
| Parallax (π) | 23.39 ± 0.57[1] mas |
| Distance | 139 ± 3 ly (43 ± 1 pc) |
| Details | |
| Mass | 6–8[5] M☉ |
| Radius | 7.3 × 11.4[6] R☉ |
| Luminosity | 3,150[6] L☉ |
| Surface gravity (log g) | 3.5[7] |
| Temperature | ~15,000[7] K |
| Rotational velocity (v sin i) | 250[7] km/s |
| Age | 1–5 × 108[citation needed] years |
| Other designations | |
Achernar (α Eri, α Eridani, Alpha Eridani), sometimes spelled Achenar, is the brightest star in the constellation Eridanus and the ninth-brightest star in the night sky. Of the top ten apparent brightest stars (excluding our Sun)—Sirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Rigel, Procyon, Achernar and Betelgeuse—Achernar is the hottest and bluest. It lies at the southern tip of the constellation.
Achernar is a bright, blue star with about six to eight solar masses[5] lying approximately 139 light-years (43 pc) away.[1] It is a main sequence star with a stellar classification of B6 Vep, but is about 3,150 times more luminous than the Sun. Achernar is in the deep southern sky and never rises above the horizon beyond 33°N, roughly the latitude of Dallas, Texas. Achernar is best seen from the southern hemisphere in November; it is circumpolar below 33°S.
Until about March 2000, Achernar and Fomalhaut were the two first-magnitude stars furthest in angular distance from any other first-magnitude star in the celestial sphere. Antares, in the constellation of Scorpius, is now the most isolated first-magnitude star, although Antares is located in a constellation with many bright second-magnitude stars, whereas the stars surrounding Achernar and Fomalhaut are considerably fainter.
Infrared observations of the star using an adaptive optics system on the Very Large Telescope show that Achernar has a companion star in a close orbit. This appears to be an A-type star in the stellar classification range A0V–A3V, which suggests a stellar mass of about double the Sun's mass. The separation of the two stars is roughly 12.3 AU and their orbital period is at least 14–15 years.[9]
As of 2003, Achernar is the least spherical star in the Milky Way studied to date.[10] It spins so rapidly that it has assumed the shape of an oblate spheroid with an equatorial diameter 56% greater than its polar diameter. The polar axis is inclined about 65° to the line of sight from the Earth.[6] Since it is, actually, a binary star, its highly distorted shape may cause non-negligible departures of the companion's orbital trajectory with respect to a Keplerian ellipse. A similar situation occurs for the star Regulus.
Because of the distorted shape of this star, there is a significant temperature variation by latitude. At the pole, the temperature may be above 20,000 K, while the equator is at or below 10,000 K. The average temperature of the star is about 15,000 K. The high polar temperatures are generating a fast polar wind that ejecting matter from the star, creating a polar envelope of hot gas and plasma. The entire star is surrounded by an extended envelope that can be detected by its excess infrared emission.[7] The presence of a circumstellar disk of ionized gas is a common feature of Be stars such as this.[11]
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[edit] Name
The name originally comes from the Arabic آخر النهر ākhir an-nahr, meaning, "The End of the River" or "River's End".
In Chinese, 水委 (Shuǐ Wěi), meaning Crooked Running Water, refers to an asterism consisting of Achernar, ζ Phoenicis and η Phoenicis
[edit] In culture
- USS Achernar (AKA-53) was a United States Navy attack cargo ship.
- Achernar in fiction
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f van Leeuwen, F. (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics 474 (2): 653–664, Bibcode 2007A&A...474..653V, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357
- ^ a b c Cousins, A. W. J. (1972), "UBV Photometry of Some Very Bright Stars", Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society, Southern Africa 31: 69, Bibcode 1972MNSSA..31...69C
- ^ Nazé, Y. (November 2009), "Hot stars observed by XMM-Newton. I. The catalog and the properties of OB stars", Astronomy and Astrophysics 506 (2): 1055–1064, Bibcode 2009A&A...506.1055N, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200912659
- ^ Evans, D. S. (June 20–24, 1966). "The Revision of the General Catalogue of Radial Velocities". In Batten, Alan Henry; Heard, John Frederick. Determination of Radial Velocities and their Applications, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 30. University of Toronto: International Astronomical Union. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967IAUS...30...57E. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ^ a b Kaler, James B., "ACHERNAR (Alpha Eridani)", Stars (University of Illinois), http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/achernar.html, retrieved 2011-12-20
- ^ a b c Carciofi, A. C. et al. (March 2008), "On the Determination of the Rotational Oblateness of Achernar", The Astrophysical Journal 676 (1): L41–L44, Bibcode 2008ApJ...676L..41C, doi:10.1086/586895
- ^ a b c d Kervella, P. et al. (January 2009), "The environment of the fast rotating star Achernar. II. Thermal infrared interferometry with VLTI/MIDI", Astronomy and Astrophysics 493 (3): L53–L56, Bibcode 2009A&A...493L..53K, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200810980
- ^ "Achernar -- Be Star", SIMBAD (Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg), http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=HIP7588, retrieved 2010-02-16
- ^ Kervella, P.; Domiciano de Souza, A.; Bendjoya, Ph. (June 2008), "The close-in companion of the fast rotating Be star Achernar", Astronomy and Astrophysics 484 (1): L13–L16, Bibcode 2008A&A...484L..13K, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200809765
- ^ See “Achernar the Flattest star” in ‘Sky & Telescope’ P. 20 ‘Newsnotes’, September 2003.
- ^ Carciofi, A. C. et al. (December 2007), "Achernar: Rapid Polarization Variability as Evidence of Photospheric and Circumstellar Activity", The Astrophysical Journal 671 (1): L49–L52, Bibcode 2007ApJ...671L..49C, doi:10.1086/524772
[edit] External links
- Achernar at solstation.com
- Surface temperature and synthetic spectral energy distributions for rotationally deformed stars
Coordinates: 
01h 37m 42.8s, −57° 14′ 12″
