Delta Capricorni, or δ Capricorni, is a

binary star A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

located 38,7

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

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 origins of the e ...

Capricornus Capricornus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for "horned goat" or "goat horn" or "having horns like a goat's", and it is commonly represented in the form of a sea goat: a mythical creature that is half goat, half fi ...

(the Sea

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

). The system consists of an

eclipsing binary A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

, Delta Capricorni A, and two visual companions that are over 10 magnitudes fainter, labeled B and C. Delta Capricorni A's two components are designated Delta Capricorni Aa (formally named Deneb Algedi , the traditional name of the system) and Ab. The primary star, Aa, is a white giant and the combined light of Aa and Ab makes it the brightest star in the constellation. Delta Capricorni is 2.6 degrees south of the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic again ...

and can be occulted by the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, and (rarely) by

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

Nomenclature

''δ Capricorni'' ( Latinised to ''Delta Capricorni'') is the system's

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...

. The designations of the three constituents as ''Delta Capricorni A'', ''B'' and ''C'', and those of ''A's'' components – ''Delta Capricorni Aa'' and ''Ab'' – derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for

multiple star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speaki ...

s, and adopted by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

(IAU). The system bore the traditional names ''Deneb Algedi'', derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

ذنب الجدي (''ðanab al-jady''), meaning "the tail of the goat", referring to the fishlike tail of the celestial sea-goat Capricorn, and ''Scheddi''. In 2016, the

organized a

Working Group on Star Names The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under Division C – Education ...

(WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name ''Deneb Algedi'' for the component Delta Capricornii Aa on February 1, 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. In

Chinese astronomy Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the twe ...

, Delta Capricorni is known as (), meaning 'The Fourth Star of the Line of Ramparts'. This refers to its presence among an asterism known as ' The Line of Ramparts', which also includes

Kappa Capricorni Kappa Capricorni (κ Cap, κ Capricorni) is a solitary star in the constellation Capricornus. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.73. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 11.09 mas as seen from the ...

Epsilon Capricorni Epsilon Capricorni, Latinized from ε Capricorni, is a possible binary star system in the constellation Capricornus. It has the traditional star name Kastra, meaning "fort" or "military camp" in Latin. Based upon an annual parallax shift ...

Gamma Capricorni Gamma Capricorni or γ Capricorni, formally named Nashira (), is a giant star in the constellation of Capricornus. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is located at a distance of approximately 157&nbs ...

Iota Aquarii Iota Aquarii, Latinised from ι Aquarii, is the Bayer designation for a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent magnitude of +4.279. Based upon parallax measurement ...

Lambda Aquarii Lambda Aquarii, informally known as Hydor (), is a variable star in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius. The name is Latinized from the Bayer designation λ Aquarii. The apparent visual magnitude of this star ranges from 3.57 down ...

Sigma Aquarii Sigma Aquarii, Latinized from σ Aquarii, is a double star in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius, positioned about 1.3° to the south of the ecliptic. Due to its proximity to the ecliptic, this star is subject to occultation by t ...

Phi Aquarii Phi Aquarii, Latinized from φ Aquarii, is the Bayer designation for a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius. It is visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude of +4.223. Parallax measu ...

27 Piscium 27 Piscium is a binary star system in the zodiac constellation of Pisces. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.88. Based upon an annual parallax shift of , it is located about 234 light years away. ...

, 29 Piscium, 33 Piscium and 30 Piscium. ''中國星座神話'', written by 陳久金. Published by 台灣書房出版有限公司, 2005, .

Observational history

In 1906 astronomer

Vesto Slipher Vesto Melvin Slipher (; November 11, 1875 – November 8, 1969) was an American astronomer who performed the first measurements of radial velocities for galaxies. He was the first to discover that distant galaxies are redshifted, thus providing th ...

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

discovered that Delta Capricorni A was a

spectroscopic binary A binary star is a system of two star, stars that are gravity, gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separa ...

. The orbit was determined in 1921 by Clifford Crump using 69

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

measurements obtained at

Yerkes Observatory Yerkes Observatory ( ) is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. The observatory was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 to 2018. Owne ...

. However the

nature of the system was not discovered until 1956 by Olin J. Eggen at

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

. Lunar occultations have been observed in 1951, 1962, and 1988. Delta Capricorni was recognised as a metallic-line star in 1957 and included in a 1958 catalog of magnetic stars. It has also been associated with

extreme ultraviolet Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high-energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths from 124 nm down to 10 nm, and therefore (by the Planck– ...

and radio sources, believed to be from coronal activity in the secondary star.

Stellar system

Delta Capricorni A is an

Algol ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

-type

eclipsing binary star A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

, with an

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 1.022768 days and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

close to the line of sight from the Earth. The peak

apparent visual magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's lig ...

of the pair is 2.81. During an eclipse of the primary, this magnitude drops by 0.24. When the primary is eclipsing the secondary, the magnitude decreases by 0.09. Delta Capricorni A has an overall

stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction grati ...

of A7m III, indicating that it is a

giant star A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main sequence, main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same effective temperature, surface temperature.Giant star, entry in ''Astronomy Encyclopedia'', ed. Patrick Moo ...

that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core. More specifically, this is a chemically-peculiar

Am star An Am star or metallic-line star is a type of chemically peculiar star of spectral type A whose spectrum has strong and often variable absorption lines of metals such as zinc, strontium, zirconium, and barium, and deficiencies of others, such as ca ...

with a spectral type of kA5hF0mF2 III under the revised MK system. This notation indicates that the

calcium K-line In physics and optics, the Fraunhofer lines are a set of spectral absorption lines named after the German physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826). The lines were originally observed as dark features (absorption lines) in the optical spectru ...

matches the temperature of an A5 star, the hydrogen spectral type matches an F0 star, and the metallic

absorption line A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from emission or absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to iden ...

s match an F2 star. In the past this star was suspected of being a

Delta Scuti variable A Delta Scuti variable (sometimes termed dwarf cepheid when the V-band amplitude is larger than 0.3 mag.) is a subclass of young pulsating star. These variables as well as classical cepheids are important standard candles and have been used to e ...

, which is rare for an Am star. This categorization was brought into question during observations in 1994 and it is most likely not inherently variable. The primary has double the

Sun's mass The solar mass () is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. It is approximately equal to the mass of ...

and nearly twice its radius. It is rotating rapidly with a

projected rotational velocity Stellar rotation is the angular motion of a star about its axis. The rate of rotation can be measured from the spectrum of the star, or by timing the movements of active features on the surface. The rotation of a star produces an equatorial bulge ...

of 105 km s⁻¹. (This rotation rate is synchronous with the orbital period.) Note that it is unusual for an Am star to have such a high rotational velocity. The outer envelope of the star is radiating energy at an

effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...

of 7,301 K, giving it the white-hued glow of an A-type star. The secondary component is a G-type or K-type star with around 90% of the mass of the Sun. There are two optical companions. A fifteenth magnitude star is one

arcminute A minute of arc, arcminute (arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of one degree. Since one degree is of a turn (or complete rotation), one minute of arc is of a turn. The na ...

away, and a thirteenth magnitude star is over two arcminutes away from the primary star and that distance is increasing.

In culture

According to

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

, Delta Capricorni's representation of a flexible tail is reflected in its association with both good and bad fortune alike. It was one of the fifteen Behenian stars of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

astrology, associated with

chalcedony Chalcedony ( , or ) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monoclinic. ...

marjoram Marjoram (; ''Origanum majorana'') is a cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some Middle Eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram and knotted mar ...

and the

kabbalistic Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

symbol .

References

links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delta Capricorni Capricorni, Delta Capricornus (constellation) Algol variables Eclipsing binaries Spectroscopic binaries Deneb Algedi A-type giants Capricorni, 49 107556 8322 F-type giants 207098 Durchmusterung objects Am stars Gliese and GJ objects