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Alpha Cygni Variables
Alpha Cygni variables are variable stars which exhibit non-radial pulsations, meaning that some portions of the stellar surface are contracting at the same time other parts expand. They are supergiant stars of spectral types B or A. Variations in brightness on the order of 0.1 magnitudes are associated with the pulsations, which often seem irregular, due to beating of multiple pulsation periods. The pulsations typically have periods of several days to several weeks. The prototype of these stars, Deneb (α Cygni), exhibits fluctuations in brightness between magnitudes +1.21 and +1.29. Small amplitude rapid variations have been known in many early supergiant stars, but they were not formally grouped into a class until the 4th edition of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars was published in 1985. It used the acronym ACYG for Alpha Cygni variable stars. Many luminous blue variables (LBVs) show Alpha Cygni-type variability during their quiescent (hot) phases, but the LBV classi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variable Star
A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as either: * Intrinsic variables, whose luminosity actually changes; for example, because the star periodically swells and shrinks. * Extrinsic variables, whose apparent changes in brightness are due to changes in the amount of their light that can reach Earth; for example, because the star has an orbiting companion that sometimes eclipses it. Many, possibly most, stars have at least some variation in luminosity: the energy output of the Sun, for example, varies by about 0.1% over an 11-year solar cycle. Discovery An ancient Egyptian calendar of lucky and unlucky days composed some 3,200 years ago may be the oldest preserved historical document of the discovery of a variable star, the eclipsing binary Algol. Of the modern astronomers, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canis Major
Canis Major is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog"; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion (constellation), Orion the hunter through the sky. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably Messier 41, M41. Canis Major contains Sirius, the List of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky, known as the "dog star". It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System. In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second-brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigma Cygni
Sigma Cygni, Latinised from σ Cygni, is a blue supergiant star in the constellation Cygnus. Its apparent magnitude is 4.2. It belongs to the Cygnus OB4 stellar association and is located approximately 3,300 light years away from Earth. Because of its location in the galactic disk, σ Cyg is obstructed by interstellar dust and is reddened by around 0.2 magnitudes and loses about 0.6 magnitudes at visual wavelengths. Allowing for this, the star is over 50,000 times as luminous as the sun. Spectral analysis of the star showed that photospheric SiII and HeI lines display a simultaneous, periodic variability. The periodicity was calculated at 1.59 hours in all three lines and it might be the result of stellar oscillations. No clear variation in the brightness has been detected. The elemental composition of Sigma Cygni is unusual. The star is enriched in helium, and has extremely high concentrations of nitrogen, calcium, cerium and europium, while carbon and aluminum are d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomy & Astrophysics
''Astronomy & Astrophysics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering theoretical, observational, and instrumental astronomy and astrophysics. The journal is run by a Board of Directors representing 27 sponsoring countries plus a representative of the European Southern Observatory. The journal is published by EDP Sciences and the editor-in-chief is . History Origins ''Astronomy and Astrophysics'' (A&A) was created as an answer to the publishing scenario found in Europe in the 1960s. At that time, multiple journals were being published in several countries around the continent. These journals usually had a limited number of subscribers, and published articles in languages other than English, resulting in a small number of citations compared to American and British journals. Starting in 1963, conversations between astronomers from European countries assessed the need for a common astronomical journal. On 8 April 1968, leading astronomers from Belgium, Denmark, Franc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cygnus (constellation)
Cygnus is a northern constellation on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinized Greek word for swan. Cygnus is one of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn, and it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross (in contrast to the Southern Cross). Cygnus was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Cygnus contains Deneb (ذنب, translit. ''ḏanab,'' tail)one of the brightest stars in the night sky and the most distant first-magnitude staras its "tail star" and one corner of the Summer Triangle. It also has some notable X-ray sources and the giant stellar association of Cygnus OB2. Cygnus is also known as the Northern Cross. One of the stars of this association, NML Cygni, is one of the largest stars currently known. The constellation is also home to Cygnus X-1, a distant X-ray binary containing a supergiant and unseen m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crux
Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for cross. Even though it is the smallest of all 88 modern constellations, Crux is among the most easily distinguished as its four main stars each have an apparent visual magnitude brighter than +2.8. It has attained a high level of cultural significance in many Southern Hemisphere states and nations. Blue-white α Crucis (Acrux) is the most southerly member of the constellation and, at magnitude 0.8, the brightest. The three other stars of the cross appear clockwise and in order of lessening magnitude: β Crucis (Mimosa), γ Crucis (Gacrux), and δ Crucis (Imai). ε Crucis (Ginan) also lies within the cross asterism. Many of these brighter stars are members of the Scorpius–Centaurus association, a large but loose group of hot blue-whit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DL Crucis
DL Crucis is a variable star in the constellation Crux. Visibility DL Crucis has a visual apparent magnitude of 6.3 so it is just visible with the unaided eye in dark skies. It lies in the small southern constellation of Crux, halfway between η Crucis and ζ Crucis and close to the constellation's brightest star α Crucis. This area of sky lies within the Milky Way and close to the Coalsack Nebula. Properties DL Crucis has a spectral type of B1.5 Ia, making it a luminous blue supergiant with a temperature over 20,000 K and 251,000 times as luminous as the sun. It has a radius around 42 times, and a mass 30 times that of the Sun. Variability In 1977 DL Crucis, then referred to as HR 4653, was being used as a comparison star to test the variability of δ Crucis. δ Crucis turned out to be constant relative to several other stars, but the difference in brightness between it and HR 4653 changed by 0.02 magnitude. It was considered likely to be a variable with a period ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cepheus (constellation)
Cepheus is a constellation in the far northern sky, named after Cepheus, a king of Aethiopia in Greek mythology. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the second century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 constellations in the modern times. The constellation's brightest star is Alpha Cephei, with an apparent magnitude of 2.5. Delta Cephei is the prototype of an important class of star known as a Cepheid variable. RW Cephei, an orange hypergiant, together with the red supergiants Mu Cephei, MY Cephei, SW Cephei, VV Cephei, and V354 Cephei are among the largest stars known. In addition, Cepheus also has the hyperluminous quasar S5 0014+81, which hosts an ultramassive black hole in its core, reported at 40 billion solar masses, about 10,000 times more massive than the central black hole of the Milky Way, making this among the most massive black holes currently known. This paper does acknowledge the possibility of an optical illusion that would cause an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nu Cephei
Nu Cephei (ν Cephei) is a class A2, fourth-magnitude supergiant star in the constellation Cepheus. It is a white pulsating α Cygni variable star located about 4,700 light-years from Earth. ν Cephei is a member of the Cepheus OB2 stellar association, which includes stars such as μ Cephei and VV Cephei. It began life as an approximately star around eight million years ago. It has now exhausted its core hydrogen and expanded and cooled into a supergiant. Elemental abundance analyses indicate that it has not yet spent time as a red supergiant, which would have brought about convection of fusion products to the surface in a Dredge-up A dredge-up is any one of several stages in the evolution of some stars. By definition, during a ''dredge-up'', a convection zone extends all the way from the star's surface down to the layers of material that have undergone fusion. Consequently, th .... ν Cephei is currently about 15 times as massive as the sun, 190 times as large, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centaurus
Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. In Greek mythology, Centaurus represents a centaur; a creature that is half human, half horse (another constellation named after a centaur is one from the zodiac: Sagittarius (constellation), Sagittarius). Notable stars include Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to the Solar System, its neighbour in the sky Beta Centauri, and V766 Centauri, one of the largest stars yet discovered. The constellation also contains Omega Centauri, the brightest globular cluster as visible from Earth and the largest identified in the Milky Way, possibly a remnant of a dwarf galaxy. Notable features Stars Centaurus contains several very bright stars. Its alpha and beta stars are used as "pointer stars" to help observers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omicron2 Centauri
Omicron2 Centauri (ο2 Cen, ο2 Centauri) is a star in the constellation Centaurus. ο2 Centauri is a white A-type supergiant with a mean apparent magnitude of +5.12. It is approximately 7,000 light years from Earth. It is classified as an Alpha Cygni type variable star and its brightness varies from magnitude +5.12 to +5.22 with a period of 46.3 days. In 1996, Kaufer and colleagues calculated Omicron2 Centauri to be around 136,000 times as luminous, 18 times as massive and have 131 times the diameter of the Sun. ο2 Cen forms a close naked eye pair with ο1 Cen, another 5th magnitude supergiant Supergiants are among the most massive and most luminous stars. Supergiant stars occupy the top region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram with absolute visual magnitudes between about −3 and −8. The temperature range of supergiant stars spa .... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Omicron2 Centauri Alpha Cygni variables Centauri, Omicron2 Centaurus A-type supergia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
6 Cassiopeiae
6 Cassiopeiae (6 Cas) is a white hypergiant in the constellation Cassiopeia, and a small-amplitude variable star. System 6 Cassiopeiae A is a white A2.5 type hypergiant. It is about 25 times as massive as the Sun and 200,000 times as luminous. The star is slightly and erratically variable, an Alpha Cygni variable. Not all sources consider 6 Cas to be a hypergiant. It is thought that the "+" in an early A3 Ia+ spectral classification referred to indications of additional spectral features from a possible companion rather than the more modern indication of a hypergiant luminosity class. However, later publications have given more conventional hypergiant spectral types such as B9Ia+ and A3Ia+. 6 Cas A has a number of close companions, most notably an 8th magnitude O class bright giant at only . Its spectral type is O9.75 and its absolute magnitude is −5.8. Both are considered to be members of the Cassiopeia OB5 stellar association at a distance of around 8,000 l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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