Tau Andromedae is a single

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 northern

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 ...

of Andromeda. Its

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek alphabet, Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive case, genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer design ...

is Latinized from τ Andromedae, and abbreviated Tau And or τ And, respectively. The star has an

apparent visual magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the 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 of the object's light ca ...

of +4.94, which is bright enough to be viewed from dark suburban skies. From

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...

measurements made during the

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

mission, the distance to this star can be estimated as roughly from Earth. The brightness of this star is diminished by 0.24 in magnitude due to

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

caused by intervening gas and dust. It is drifting closer to the Sun with a

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity of a target with respect to an observer is the rate of change of the vector displacement between the two points. It is formulated as the vector projection of the target-observer relative velocity ...

of −14 km/s. The

spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

of this star matches 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 B5 III, with the

luminosity class 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 III indicating that this is a

giant star A giant star has a substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature. They lie above the main sequence (luminosity class V in the Yerkes spectral classification) on the Hertzsp ...

. It is radiating about 851 times the luminosity of the Sun from its

photosphere The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated. It extends into a star's surface until the plasma becomes opaque, equivalent to an optical depth of approximately , or equivalently, a depth from which 50% of light will esc ...

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 12,670 K. The star is an estimated 217 million years old and is spinning with a high

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 ~74 km/s.

Naming

Chinese 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-ethnic ...

, (), meaning '' Heaven's Great General'', refers to an asterism consisting of τ Andromedae,

γ Andromedae Gamma Andromedae is a multiple star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is the third-brightest star in the constellation, after Alpheratz and Mirach. Its identifier is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from γ ...

φ Persei Phi Persei (Phi Per, φ Persei, φ Per) is a class B2Vep fourth-magnitude star in the constellation Perseus, location about 720 light-years from Earth. System Phi Persei is spectroscopic binary consisting of a blue main ...

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 49 Andromedae is a star in the constellation Andromeda. ''49 Andromedae'' is the Flamsteed designation (abbreviated 49 And), though it also bears the Bayer designation A Andromedae. It is visible to the naked eye under good viewing ...

χ Andromedae Chi Andromedae ( Andromedae, And) is the Bayer designation for a star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +5.01, which is relatively faint for a naked-eye star. Based upon parallax measu ...

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 ...

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, ...

γ Trianguli Gamma Trianguli (Gamma Tri, γ Trianguli, γ Tri) is a star in the constellation Triangulum located approximately 112 light years from Earth. It has an apparent magnitude of +4.01 and forms an optical (line-of-sight) triple ...

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

References

External links

Image Tau Andromedae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tau Andromedae B-type giants Andromeda (constellation) Andromedae, Tau 0477 BD+39 0378 Andromedae, 53 010205 007818