Omicron¹ Centauri (ο¹ Cen, ο¹ Centauri) 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 ...

Centaurus Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one o ...

. It is approximately 10,000

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

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 ...

ο¹ Centauri is a yellow G-type

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 ...

hypergiant A hypergiant (luminosity class 0 or Ia+) is a very rare type of star that has an extremely high luminosity, mass, size and mass loss because of its extreme stellar winds. The term ''hypergiant'' is defined as luminosity class 0 (zero) in the MK ...

with a mean

apparent 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 li ...

of +5.13. It is classified as 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 ...

and its brightness varies from magnitude +5.8 to +6.6 with a period of 200 days. Other studies have reported only small brightness variations. It is the MK spectral standard for class G3 O-Ia, indicating a highly luminous mass-losing

star. It has also be classified as F8 Ia0 and F7 Ia/ab. The size, luminosity, and distance are equally uncertain. ο¹ Cen forms a very close naked eye double star with ο² Centauri, a hotter supergiant that may be physically associated. ο¹ Cen also has an 11th magnitude companion only 13.5" distant, Although it appears to be a foreground star unrelated to the other two.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omicron1 Centauri Centauri, Omicron1 Centaurus Semiregular variable stars G-type hypergiants 4441 056243 100261 Durchmusterung objects