Gamma Trianguli (Gamma Tri, γ Trianguli, γ Tri) is a

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

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 first constellati ...

Triangulum Triangulum is a small constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "triangle", derived from its three brightest stars, which form a long and narrow triangle. Known to the ancient Babylonians and Greeks, Triangulum was one of the 48 ...

located approximately 112

light years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...

from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. It has an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of +4.01 and forms an optical (line-of-sight) triple with

Delta Trianguli Delta Trianguli, also named Deltoton, is a spectroscopic binary star system approximately away in the constellation of Triangulum. The primary star is a yellow dwarf, while the secondary star is thought to be an orange dwarf. It has a ...

and 7 Trianguli.

Properties

This star has 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 gratin ...

of A1Vnn, which indicates it is an

A-type main sequence star An A-type main-sequence star (A) or A dwarf star is a main-sequence (hydrogen burning) star of spectral type A and luminosity class (five). These stars have spectra defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines. They measure between 1.7 ...

. It has 2.7 times the mass of the Sun and nearly double the Sun's radius. Gamma Trianguli is radiating about 33 times the luminosity of the Sun from its outer envelope 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 9,440 K, giving the star a white hue. The star is roughly 300 million years old.

Rotation

It is rotating rapidly, with a

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 bu ...

of 254 km/s along the equator, which causes the star to take the pronounced shape of an

oblate spheroid A spheroid, also known as an ellipsoid of revolution or rotational ellipsoid, is a quadric surface obtained by rotating an ellipse about one of its principal axes; in other words, an ellipsoid with two equal semi-diameters. A spheroid has circu ...

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila (constellation), Aquila and the list of brightest stars, twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinisation of name ...

. Because the inclination of the star's

axial tilt In astronomy, axial tilt, also known as obliquity, is the angle between an object's rotational axis and its orbital axis, which is the line perpendicular to its orbital plane; equivalently, it is the angle between its equatorial plane and orbita ...

is unknown, this means that the azimuthal equatorial velocity is at least this amount and possibly higher. By comparison, the Sun is a slow rotator with an equatorial azimuthal velocity of 2 km/s. The

doppler shift The Doppler effect (also Doppler shift) is the change in the frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the source of the wave. The ''Doppler effect'' is named after the physicist Christian Doppler, who described t ...

from the rapid rotation results in very diffuse

absorption line Absorption spectroscopy is spectroscopy that involves techniques that measure the absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of electromagnetic radiation, as a function of frequency or wavelength, due to its interaction with a sample. Th ...

s in the star's spectrum, as indicated by the 'nn' in the classification.

Debris disk

Orbiting the star is a dusty

debris disk A debris disk (American English), or debris disc ( Commonwealth English), is a circumstellar disk of dust and debris in orbit around a star. Sometimes these disks contain prominent rings, as seen in the image of Fomalhaut on the right. Debris ...

with a combined mass of about times the mass of the

. This disk can be detected because it is being heated to a temperature of about 75 K by Gamma Trianguli and is radiating this as infrared energy. The disk is separated from the host star by an angle of 2.24

arcsecond A minute of arc, arcminute (abbreviated as arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of a degree. Since one degree is of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is of a tu ...

s, corresponding to a physical radius of 80 AU, or 80 times the separation of the Earth from the Sun.

Naming

In Chinese, (), meaning '' Heaven's Great General'', refers to an asterism consisting of γ Trianguli, γ Andromedae, φ Persei,

51 Andromedae 51 Andromedae, abbreviated 51 And and formally named Nembus , is the 5th brightest star in the northern constellation of Andromeda, very slightly dimmer than the Andromeda Galaxy also being of 4th magnitude. It is an orange K-type giant ...

, 49 Andromedae, χ Andromedae,

υ Andromedae Upsilon Andromedae (υ Andromedae, abbreviated Upsilon And, υ And) is a binary star located 44 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Andromeda (constellation), Andromeda. The system consists of an F-type main-sequence star (desi ...

, τ Andromedae,

56 Andromedae 56 Andromedae, abbreviated 56 And, is a probable binary star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda. ''56 Andromedae'' is the Flamsteed designation. It has a combined apparent visual magnitude of 5.69, which is just bright eno ...

β Trianguli Beta Trianguli (Beta Tri, β Trianguli, β Tri) is the Bayer designation for a binary star system in the constellation Triangulum, located about 127 light years from Earth. Although it is only a third-magnitude star, ...

, and

δ Trianguli Delta Trianguli, also named Deltoton, is a spectroscopic binary star system approximately away in the constellation of Triangulum. The primary star is a Yellow dwarf star, yellow dwarf, while the secondary star is thought to be an orang ...

. Consequently, the

Chinese name Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethni ...

for γ Trianguli itself is (, .).AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 7 月 10 日

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamma Trianguli Trianguli, Gamma Triangulum A-type main-sequence stars 010670 Trianguli, 09 0664 014055 BD+33 0397 Circumstellar disks