Gamma Pegasi 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

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 ...

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

, located at the southeast corner of the asterism known as the Great Square. It has the formal name Algenib ; the Bayer designation Gamma Pegasi is Latinized from γ Pegasi and abbreviated Gamma Peg or γ Peg. The average

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 +2.84 makes this the fourth-brightest star in the constellation. The distance to this star has been measured using the

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 ...

technique, yielding a value of roughly .

Nomenclature

''Gamma Pegasi'' is the star's Bayer designation. Although it also had the traditional name ''Algenib'', this name was also used for

Alpha Persei Alpha Persei (Latinisation of names, Latinized from α Persei, abbreviated Alpha Per, α Per), formally named Mirfak (pronounced or ), is the brightest star in the Northern celestial hemisphere, northern constellation of P ...

. In 2016, 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 ...

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's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included ''Algenib'' for this star (Alpha Persei was given the name ''Mirfak''). The asterism of γ Pegasi and

α Andromedae Alpha Andromedae (α Andromedae, abbreviated Alpha And or α And), officially named Alpheratz , is 97 light-years from the Sun and is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda when Beta Andromedae undergoes its period ...

, in Hindu astronomy, is called

Uttara Bhādrapadā Uttara Bhādrapadā or Uttṛṭṭāti (Devanagari: उत्तरभाद्रपदा) is the twenty-sixth nakshatra in Hindu astrology, corresponding to γ Pegasi and α Andromedae. It is ruled by Shani, the deity identified with th ...

(उत्तरभाद्रपदा) or Uttṛṭṭāti. It is the 26th nakshatra. 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 ...

, (), meaning ''

Wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

(asterism)'' refers to an asterism consisting of γ Pegasi and

. 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 γ Pegasi itself is (, en, the First Star of Wall.)

Properties

In 1911, American astronomer Keivin Burns discovered that the radial velocity of Gamma Pegasi varied slightly. This was confirmed in 1953 by American astronomer D. Harold McNamara, who identified it as a

Beta Cephei variable Beta Cephei variables, also known as Beta Canis Majoris stars, are variable stars that exhibit small rapid variations in their brightness due to pulsations of the stars' surfaces, thought due to the unusual properties of iron at temperatures of 200, ...

. (At the time he actually identified it as a

Beta Canis Majoris Beta Canis Majoris (β Canis Majoris, abbreviated Beta CMa, β CMa), also named Mirzam , is a star in the southern constellation of Canis Major, the "Great Dog", located at a distance of about 500 light-years (150 parsecs) from ...

star, which was subsequently designated a Beta Cephei variable.) It has a radial pulsation period of 0.15175 days (3.642 hours), but also shows the behavior of a

slowly pulsating B star A slowly pulsating B-type star (SPB), formerly known as a 53 Persei variable, is a type of pulsating variable star. They may also be termed a long-period pulsating B star (LPB). As the name implies, they are main-sequence stars of spectral type B2 ...

(SPB) with three additional pulsational frequencies. Its

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

varies between +2.78 and +2.89 over the course of each pulsation cycle. This is a large star with almost nine times the

mass of the Sun 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 ...

and close to five times the Sun's radius. The

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 B2 IV suggests this is 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 is exhausting the hydrogen at its core and is in the process of

evolving 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 ...

away from the

main sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Her ...

. It is either rotating very slowly with no measurable

rotational velocity In physics, angular velocity or rotational velocity ( or ), also known as angular frequency vector,(UP1) is a pseudovector representation of how fast the angular position or orientation of an object changes with time (i.e. how quickly an obje ...

or else it is being viewed from nearly pole-on. Gamma Pegasi has a total

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic power (light), the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object over time. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a st ...

of 5,840 times that of the Sun, which is being radiated from its outer atmosphere 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 more than 21,000 K. At this temperature, the star glows with a blue-white hue. The star has a weak

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

(from -10 G to 30 G, an upper bound on a dipolar magnetic field strength of about ).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamma Pegasi B-type subgiants Beta Cephei variables Pegasus (constellation) Pegasi, Gamma 0039 Durchmusterung objects Pegasi, 88 000886 001067 Algenib