Delta Ursae Majoris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Megrez)
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 |
|
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Right ascension | 12h 15m 25.6s |
| Declination | +57° 01' 57" |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | +3.32 |
| Distance | 81.4 ± 1.2 ly (25.0 ± 0.4 pc) |
| Spectral type | A3V |
| Other designations | |
Delta Ursae Majoris (δ UMa, δ Ursae Majoris) is a star in the constellation Ursa Major. It has the traditional names Megrez (pronounced /ˈmɛɡrɛz/), from the Arabic: المغرز al-maghriz "the base [of the bear's tail]", and Kaffa.
Megrez has an apparent magnitude of +3.32 making it the dimmest of the seven stars in the Big Dipper. Located 81 light years away, it is of spectral type A3V and thus a bluish-white main sequence star. The mass of this star is 1.63 times the mass of the Sun.[1]
It has two faint companions, an 11th magnitude star 190 arcseconds awa, and a 10th magnitude star 186 arcseconds away.
It is part of the Ursa Major moving group.
[edit] Namesakes
USS Megrez (AK-126) was a United States Navy Crater class cargo ship named after the star.
[edit] References
- ^ Shaya, Ed J.; Olling, Rob P. (January 2011), "Very Wide Binaries and Other Comoving Stellar Companions: A Bayesian Analysis of the Hipparcos Catalogue", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement 192 (1): 2, Bibcode 2011ApJS..192....2S, doi:10.1088/0067-0049/192/1/2
