Beta Carinae
 Location of Beta Carinae |
|
| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 |
|
|---|---|
| Constellation | Carina |
| Right ascension | 09h 13m 11.97746s[1] |
| Declination | -69° 43′ 01.9473″[1] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 1.68[2] |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | A2 IV[2] |
| U−B color index | +0.03 |
| B−V color index | +0.00[2] |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | -5.2 km/s |
| Proper motion (μ) | RA: -156.47[1] mas/yr Dec.: +108.95[1] mas/yr |
| Parallax (π) | 28.82 ± 0.11[1] mas |
| Distance | 113.2 ± 0.4 ly (34.7 ± 0.1 pc) |
| Details | |
| Mass | 3.5[2] M☉ |
| Radius | 6.8[2] R☉ |
| Luminosity | 288[2] L☉ |
| Surface gravity (log g) | 3.33[2] |
| Temperature | 9,210 ± 430[2] K |
| Rotation | 2.1 days |
| Age | 0.35 Gyr |
| Other designations | |
Beta Carinae (β Car, β Carinae) is the second brightest star in the constellation Carina and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, with apparent magnitude 1.68. It is the brightest star in the south polar asterism known as the Diamond Cross, marking the southwestern end of the asterism. Beta Carinae also has the traditional name Miaplacidus, meaning "placid waters". It lies near the planetary nebula, IC 2448.
Beta Carinae's traditional name Miaplacidus made its debut on star maps in 1856 when the star atlas Geography of the Heavens, composed by Elijah Hinsdale Burritt, was published. The meaning and linguistic origin of the name remained an enigma for many decades, until William Higgins, a great scholar and expert on star names, surmised that the name Miaplacidus is apparently a bilingual combination of Arabic مياه miyāh for "waters" and Latin placidus for "placid".
In Chinese, 南船 (Nán Chuán), meaning Southern Boat, refers to an asterism consisting of β Carinae, V337 Carinae, PP Carinae, θ Carinae and ω Carinae .[4] Consequently, β Carinae itself is known as 南船五 (Nán Chuán wǔ, English: the Fifth Star of Southern Boat.)[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e van Leeuwen, Floor (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics 474 (2): 653–664, arXiv:0708.1752v1, Bibcode 2007A&A...474..653V, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357 Note: see VizieR catalogue I/311.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Malagnini, M. L.; Morossi, C. (November 1990), "Accurate absolute luminosities, effective temperatures, radii, masses and surface gravities for a selected sample of field stars", Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series 85 (3): 1015–1019, Bibcode 1990A&AS...85.1015M
- ^ "HD 80007 -- High proper-motion Star". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/sim-id.pl?protocol=html&Ident=Beta+Carinae. Retrieved 2005-11-05.
- ^ (Chinese) 中國星座神話, written by 陳久金. Published by 台灣書房出版有限公司, 2005, ISBN 978-986-7332-25-7.
- ^ (Chinese) 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.
[edit] External links
- Proper Naming of Southern Stars
- "Beta Carinae". ARICNS. Archived from the original on February 20, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060220180547/http://www.ari.uni-heidelberg.de/aricns/cnspages/4c00710.htm. Retrieved December 9, 2005.
- "MIAPLACIDUS (Beta Carinae)". Portrait of Stars, &c.. http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/miaplacidus.html. Retrieved December 9, 2005.
- "Miaplacidus (Beta Carinae)". Astronomy Encyclopedia. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/Miaplacidus.html. Retrieved December 9, 2005.
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