Delta Centauri, Latinized from δ Centauri, is a star in the southern constellation of

Centaurus Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 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. ...

. The

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 this star is +2.57, making it readily visible to the naked eye. Based upon parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of about from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. The star is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +11 km/s.

Properties

δ Centauri is a

shell star A shell star is a star having a spectrum that shows extremely broad absorption lines, plus some very narrow absorption lines. They typically also show some emission lines, usually from the Balmer series but occasionally of other lines. The broa ...

, with a distinctive

spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

created by material thrown off into a disk by its rapid rotation. It is also a

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 e ...

whose brightness varies from magnitude +2.51 to +2.65. It has been classified as a γ Cassiopeiae type variable. The energy from this star is being radiated at an effective temperature of over 22,000 K from the outer envelope, giving it the blue-white hue of a

B-type star A B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K. B-type star ...

. It has a radius of 6.5 times the

radius of the Sun Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of stars in astronomy relative to the Sun. The solar radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the Sun's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3: :1\,R_ = 6.957\t ...

and 8.7 times 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 ...

. The stellar classification of this star is B2Vne, which presents as a

B-type main-sequence star A B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K. B-type star ...

. N. Houk in 1979 found a class of B2 IVne, with the

luminosity class In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the ...

of IV suggesting that this may be a

subgiant star A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as giant stars. The term subgiant is applied both to a particular spectral luminosity class and to a stage in the evolution o ...

that has exhausted the hydrogen at its core and begun to evolve away from the main sequence. The star is spinning rapidly, with the resulting Doppler effect giving its spectrum broad absorption lines as indicated by the 'n'. The suffix 'e' means this is a classical

Be star Be stars are a heterogeneous set of stars with B spectral types and emission lines. A narrower definition, sometimes referred to as ''classical Be stars'', is a non-supergiant B star whose spectrum has, or had at some time, one or more Balmer e ...

, which is a type of hot star that has not yet evolved into a

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 ...

and is surrounded by circumstellar gas. The presence of this gas creates an excess emission of infrared, along with

emission 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 identi ...

s in the star's spectrum. Most of it is concentrated around the equator, forming a disk. Some of the variation in this star may be explained by assuming it is a binary star system. This proposed secondary star would need to have about 4–7 times the Sun's mass and be orbiting with a period of at least 4.6 years at a minimum separation of 6.9

Astronomical Unit The astronomical unit (symbol: au, or or AU) is a unit of length, roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun and approximately equal to or 8.3 light-minutes. The actual distance from Earth to the Sun varies by about 3% as Earth orbits ...

s. δ Centauri shares a

common proper motion This glossary of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is concerned with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outsid ...

with the nearby stars HD 105382 and HD 105383, so they may form a small cluster or perhaps a triple star system. It is a proper motion member of the Lower Centaurus–Crux sub-group in the Scorpius–Centaurus OB association, the nearest such of association of co-moving massive stars to the Sun.

Etymology

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, (), meaning '' Horse's Tail'', refers to an asterism consisting of δ Centauri, G Centauri and ρ Centauri. Consequently, δ Centauri itself is known as (, en, the Third Star of Horse's Tail.). From this Chinese name, the name Ma Wei appeared. The people of Aranda and Luritja tribe around

Hermannsburg Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the riv ...

, Central Australia, named Iritjinga, "The Eagle-hawk", a quadrangular arrangement comprising this star,

γ Cen Gamma Centauri, Latinized from γ Centauri, is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It has the proper name Muhlifain, not to be confused with Muliphein, which is γ Canis Majoris; both names derive from ...

(Muhlifain), γ Cru (Gacrux), and δ Cru (Imai).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delta Centauri B-type main-sequence stars B-type subgiants Be stars Gamma Cassiopeiae variable stars Lower Centaurus Crux Centaurus (constellation) Centauri, Delta Durchmusterung objects 105435 059196 4621

Properties

Etymology

See also

References