Beta Andromedae, Latinized from β Andromedae, and officially named Mirach , is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the

Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gal ...

. The galaxy

NGC 404 NGC 404 is a field galaxy located about 10 million light years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784, and is visible through small telescopes.

, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach. This star has an 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 2.05, making it the brightest star in the constellation. The luminosity varies slightly from magnitude +2.01 to +2.10. Based upon parallax measurements, it is roughly 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 ...

. Its apparent magnitude is reduced by 0.06 by

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

due to gas and dust along the line of sight. The star has a negligible radial velocity of 0.1 km/s, but with a relatively large proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at ·yr⁻¹.

Properties

Beta Andromedae is a single red giant with a stellar classification of M0 III, and is currently on the asymptotic giant branch of its

evolution 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 ...

. Since 1943 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 ...

of this star has been one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. It is suspected of being a semiregular

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

varies from +2.01 to +2.10. At this stage of the star's

, the outer envelope has expanded to around 100 times the size of the Sun. It is radiating 1,995 times the

luminosity of the Sun The solar luminosity (), is a unit of radiant flux ( power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of the Sun. One nominal ...

at an effective temperature of .

Nomenclature

''Beta Andromedae'' is the star's Bayer designation. It had the traditional name of ''Mirach'', and its variations, such as ''Mirac'', ''Mirar'', ''Mirath'', ''Mirak'', etc. (the name is spelled ''Merach'' in Burritt's ''The Geography of the Heavens''), which come from the star's description in the '' Alfonsine Tables'' of 1521 as ''super mizar''. Here, ''mirat'' is a corruption of the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a 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. E.Watson; Walter ...

مئزر '' mīzar'' "girdle", which appeared in a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translation of the '' Almagest''. This word refers to Mirach's position at the left hip of the princess Andromeda. 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 ''Mirach'' for this star. Mirach is listed in the Babylonian

MUL.APIN MUL.APIN () is the conventional title given to a Babylonian compendium that deals with many diverse aspects of Babylonian astronomy and astrology. It is in the tradition of earlier star catalogues, the so-called ''Three Stars Each'' lists, but ...

as KA.MUSH.I.KU.E, meaning "the Deleter" (the alternative star is α Cas). Medieval astronomers writing in Arabic called β Andromedae ''Janb al-Musalsalah'' ( en, The Side of the Chained (Lady)); it was part of the 28th ''manzil'' (Arabian

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 ...

) ''Baṭn al-Ḥūt'', the Belly of the Fish, or ''Qalb al-Ḥūt'', the Heart of the Fish. The star has also been called ''Cingulum'' and ''Ventrale''. This ''al-Ḥūt'' was an indigenous Arabic constellation, not the Western "Northern Fish" part of the constellation

Pisces Pisces may refer to: * Pisces, an obsolete (because of land vertebrates) taxonomic superclass including all fish * Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign * Pisces (constellation), a constellation **Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in ...

. These names are not from the Arabic ''marāqq'', loins, because it was never called ''al-Marāqq'' in Arabian astronomy. ''Al Rishā, the Cord (of the well-bucket), on al-Sūfī's star map. It is origin of the proper name Alrescha for

Alpha Piscium Alpha Piscium (α Piscium) is a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Pisces. Based upon parallax measurements made by the Hipparcos spacecraft, it is about from the Solar System. The two components are designated ...

. 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 ''

Legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element ...

'', refers to an asterism consisting of β Andromedae, η Andromedae,

65 Piscium 65 may refer to: * 65 (number) * ''65'' (film), an upcoming American science fiction thriller film * One of the years 65 BC, AD 65, 1965, 2065 * A type of dish in Indian cuisine, such as Chicken 65 Chicken 65 is a spicy, deep-fried chicken dish ...

, ζ Andromedae, ε Andromedae, δ Andromedae, π Andromedae, ν Andromedae, μ Andromedae, σ Piscium, τ Piscium, 91 Piscium, υ Piscium, φ Piscium, χ Piscium and ψ¹ Piscium. 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 ofte ...

for β Andromedae itself is (, en, the Ninth Star of Legs). The people of

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

named this star ''Kyyw'', meaning "The Porpoise", and this was used as one of the names of the months in Micronesia.

References

External links

*
Image MIRACH
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beta Andromedae M-type giants Asymptotic-giant-branch stars Semiregular variable stars Andromeda (constellation) Andromedae, Beta BD+34 0198 Andromedae, 43 Gliese and GJ objects 006860 005447 0337 Mirach

Properties

Nomenclature

References

Further reading

External links