Delta Virginis (δ Virginis, abbreviated Del Vir, δ Vir), formally named Minelauva , is a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

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 ...

Virgo Virgo may refer to: *Virgo (astrology), the sixth astrological sign of the zodiac *Virgo (constellation), a constellation *Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo *Virgo Stellar Stream, remains of a dwarf galaxy *Virgo Supe ...

. With an

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 3.4, this star is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Based upon

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

measurements, it is located at a distance of about 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 ...

Nomenclature

''δ Virginis'' ( Latinised to ''Delta Virginis'') is the star'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. ...

. It bore the traditional,

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 ...

names ''Auva'' and ''Minelauva'' 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 ...

من العواء ''min al-ʽawwāʼ'', meaning "in the

lunar mansion Often called lunar mansion, a lunar station or lunar house is a segment of the ecliptic through which the Moon passes in its orbit around the Earth. The concept was used by several ancient cultures as part of their calendrical system. Stations in ...

of ''ʽawwaʼ''" (a name of unknown meaning). In 2016, the IAU 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 catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Minelauva'' for this star on 30 June 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. This star, along with

Beta Virginis Beta Virginis, a name Latinised from β Virginis, is a star in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. It has the proper name Zavijava (), and, despite its designation ' beta', is the fifth-brightest star in Virgo with an apparent visu ...

(Zavijava),

Gamma Virginis Gamma Virginis (γ Virginis, abbreviated Gamma Vir, γ Vir), officially named Porrima , is a binary star system in the constellation of Virgo. It consists of two almost identical main sequence stars at a distance of about 38 light-y ...

(Porrima),

Eta Virginis Eta Virginis (η Virginis, abbreviated Eta Vir, η Vir) is a triple star system in the zodiac constellation of Virgo. From parallax measurements taken during the Hipparcos mission it is about from the Sun. It has a combined apparent v ...

(Zaniah) and

Epsilon Virginis Epsilon Virginis (ε Virginis, abbreviated Epsilon Vir, ε Vir), formally named Vindemiatrix , is a star in the zodiac constellation of Virgo. The apparent visual magnitude of this star is +2.8, making it the third-brightest member of Vi ...

(Vindemiatrix), were ''Al ʽAwwāʼ'', 'the Barker'. In

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 va ...

, (), meaning '' Left Wall of Supreme Palace Enclosure'', refers to an asterism consisting of Delta Virginis, Eta Virginis, Gamma Virginis, Epsilon Virginis and

Alpha Comae Berenices Alpha Comae Berenices (α Comae Berenices, abbreviated Alpha Com, α Com) is a binary star in the constellation of Coma Berenices ( Berenice's Hair), away. It consists of two main sequence stars, each a little hotter and more lumino ...

. Consequently, the

Chinese name Chinese names or Chinese personal names are names used by individuals from Greater China and other parts of the Chinese-speaking world throughout East and Southeast Asia (ESEA). In addition, many names used in Japan, Korea and Vietnam are often a ...

for Delta Virginis itself is (, en, the Third Star of Left Wall of Supreme Palace Enclosure), representing (), meaning 'The Second Eastern Minister'. 東次相 (Dōngcìxiāng), westernized into ''Tsze Seang'' by R.H. Allen and meaning "the Second Minister of State".

Properties

The

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 i ...

of Delta Virginis matches a

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 M3 III, which places it among the category of

evolved Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

stars called

red giant A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...

s. Indeed, the outer atmosphere of this star has expanded to around 48 times the radius of the Sun. Even though it has just 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, this wide envelope gives it a luminosity of roughly 468 times the Sun's. This energy is being radiated from a relatively cool outer atmosphere that has 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 nearly 4,000 K. It is this cool temperature that gives it the orange-red glow of an M-type star. DeltaVirLightCurve

The outer envelope of this star is undergoing a type of pulsation that occurs in a class of

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 ...

s known as

semiregular variable In astronomy, a semiregular variable star, a type of variable star, is a giant or supergiant of intermediate and late (cooler) spectral type showing considerable periodicity in its light changes, accompanied or sometimes interrupted by various irre ...

s and its brightness varies from magnitude +3.32 to +3.40. Based upon

frequency analysis In cryptanalysis, frequency analysis (also known as counting letters) is the study of the frequency of letters or groups of letters in a ciphertext. The method is used as an aid to breaking classical ciphers. Frequency analysis is based on t ...

of the observed light curve, the star's variability exhibits multiple periods of pulsation. The detected periods are 13.0, 17.2, 25.6, 110.1 and 125.8 days. This is a high-velocity star with a

peculiar velocity Peculiar motion or peculiar velocity refers to the velocity of an object relative to a ''rest frame'' — usually a frame in which the average velocity of some objects is zero. Galactic astronomy In galactic astronomy, peculiar motion refers to ...

of more than relative to the mean motion of other stars in the vicinity. Delta Virginis is a possible

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 ...

, as an 11th magnitude star is located at an

angular separation Angular distance \theta (also known as angular separation, apparent distance, or apparent separation) is the angle between the two sightlines, or between two point objects as viewed from an observer. Angular distance appears in mathematics (in pa ...

of 80

arcsecond 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 ...

s. This K-type dwarf may have 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 over 200,000 years, but this has not been confirmed.

References

External links

Alcyone ephemeris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delta Virginis M-type giants K-type main-sequence stars Asymptotic-giant-branch stars Semiregular variable stars Double stars Virgo (constellation) Virginis, Delta Durchmusterung objects Virginis, 043 063090 4910 112300 Minelauva TIC objects