V382 Carinae, also known as x Carinae (x Car), is a
yellow hypergiant 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 ...
Carina. It is a
G-type 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 ...
with a mean
apparent magnitude of +3.93, and a
variable star of low amplitude.
Variability
The radial velocity of V382 Carinae has long been known to be variable, but variations in its brightness were unclear. Brightness variations were detected by some observers, but others found it to be constant.
It was formally named as a variable star in 1981, listed in the
General Catalogue of Variable Stars as a possible
δ Cephei variable
Classical Cepheids (also known as Population I Cepheids, Type I Cepheids, or Delta Cepheid variables) are a type of Cepheid variable star. They are population I variable stars that exhibit regular radial pulsations with periods of a few days to a ...
.
It has been described as a ''pseudo-Cepheid'', a supergiant with pulsations similar to a Cepheid but less regular.
[
Analysis of ]Hipparcos
''Hipparcos'' was a scientific satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 1989 and operated until 1993. It was the first space experiment devoted to precision astrometry, the accurate measurement of the positions of celestial obj ...
photometry showed clear variation with a maximum range of 0.12 magnitudes and the star was treated as an α Cygni variable. A period of 556 days was suggested, but it is not entirely consistent. It is now generally treated as a semiregular or irregular supergiant.
Properties
V382 Car is the brightest yellow hypergiant in the night sky, easily visible to the naked eye and brighter than Rho Cassiopeiae although not visible from much of the northern hemisphere. It is 6,200 light years from Earth and around 500 times the radius of the Sun. The large size means that V382 Car is over 200,000 times as luminous as the sun. The low infrared excess suggest that V382 Carinae may be cooling towards a red supergiant phase, less common than yellow hypergiants evolving towards hotter temperatures.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:V382 Carinae
Carinae, x
Carina (constellation)
G-type hypergiants
Carinae, V382
096918
4337
Durchmusterung objects
Slow irregular variables
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