Omega Hydrae, Latinised from ω Hydrae, is a golden-hued

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

equatorial Equatorial may refer to something related to: *Earth's equator **the tropics, the Earth's equatorial region **tropical climate *the Celestial equator ** equatorial orbit **equatorial coordinate system ** equatorial mount, of telescopes * equatorial ...

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 ...

Hydra Hydra generally refers to: * Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed serpent in Greek mythology * ''Hydra'' (genus), a genus of simple freshwater animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria Hydra or The Hydra may also refer to: Astronomy * Hydra (constel ...

, located to the west-southwest of the brighter star

Zeta Hydrae Zeta Hydrae (ζ Hya, ζ Hydrae) is a solitary star in the equatorial constellation of Hydra. This is a generally faint constellation, so, at an apparent visual magnitude of +3.10, this is the third-brightest member after Alphard and G ...

. Based upon an annual parallax shift of just 3.64

mas Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * Más ( ...

as seen from Earth, it is located roughly 900

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. It is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.00. This is an evolved K-type star with 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 K2 II-III, which indicates a spectrum showing traits intermediate between the giant and bright giant stages. It is most likely (98% chance) on the

horizontal branch The horizontal branch (HB) is a stage of stellar evolution that immediately follows the red-giant branch in stars whose masses are similar to the Sun's. Horizontal-branch stars are powered by helium fusion in the core (via the triple-alpha process) ...

, indicating that the star is generating energy through the thermonuclear fusion of helium at its core. With 4.32 times the Sun's mass, it has expanded to around 48 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 ...

. Omega Hydrae is about 180 million years old and spinning with a leisurely

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 2.3 km/s. The star is radiating roughly 944 times the solar luminosity from its

photosphere The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated. The term itself is derived from Ancient Greek roots, φῶς, φωτός/''phos, photos'' meaning "light" and σφαῖρα/''sphaira'' meaning "sphere", in reference to it ...

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 .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omega Hydrae K-type giants K-type bright giants Hydra (constellation) Hydrae, Omega Hydrae, 18 Durchmusterung objects 077996 044659 3613