Eta Boötis is a candidate

binary star A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

system 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 ...

Boötes Boötes ( ) is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from , which comes from 'herder, herdsman' or 'plowman' (literally, 'o ...

. Its name is a

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 ...

that is Latinized from η Boötis, and abbreviated Eta Boo or η Boo. This system is visible to the

naked eye Naked eye, also called bare eye or unaided eye, is the practice of engaging in visual perception unaided by a magnification, magnifying, Optical telescope#Light-gathering power, light-collecting optical instrument, such as a telescope or microsc ...

as a point of light with 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 2.68. Based on

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 obtained during the

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 and distances of ...

mission, it is approximately distant from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

. It is drifting closer 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 −5.3 km/s. Since 1943, 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 has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. It forms a

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

with the star BD+19 2726. As a constituent of a double pair, Eta Boötis is also designated WDS J13547+1824A, with its two components being designated Aa (formally named Muphrid , the traditional name for the entire system) and Ab. (As part of a binary pair, they are also designated Eta Boötis A and B, respectively.) is also designated WDS J13547+1824B.

Nomenclature

''η Boötis'' ( Latinised to ''Eta Boötis'') is the binary pair's

; ''η Boötis A'' and ''B'' those of its two components. The designations of the two constituents of the double pair as ''WDS J13547+1824A'' and ''B'' and those of ''A's'' components - ''Aa'' and ''Ab'' - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for

multiple star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a ''st ...

s, and adopted by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

(IAU). Eta Boötis bore the traditional names ''Muphrid'' and ''Saak''. ''Muphrid'' is from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

مفرد الرامح ''mufrid ar-rāmiħ'' "the (single) one of the lancer". In 2016, the IAU organized a

Working Group on Star Names The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under Division C – Education ...

(WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name ''Muphrid'' for the component WDS J13547+1824Aa (Eta Boötis A) on 12 September 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. In the catalogue of stars in the ''Calendarium'' of Al Achsasi al Mouakket, this star was designated ''Ramih al Ramih'' (رمح الرامح ''rumḥ al rāmiḥ''), which was translated into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

as ''Lancea Lanceator'', possibly meaning ''the lance of the lancer''. In Chinese, (), meaning "the Right Conductor", refers to an asterism consisting of Eta Boötis, Tau Boötis and Upsilon Boötis. 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 Eta Boötis itself is (, ).香港太空館 - 研究資源 - 亮星中英對照表
, Hong Kong Space Museum. Accessed on line November 23, 2010.

Properties

Eta Boötis is a suspected

spectroscopic binary A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

with a reported period of 494 days, but the companion was not confirmed through

speckle interferometry Speckle imaging comprises a range of high-resolution Astrophotography, astronomical imaging techniques based on the analysis of large numbers of short Exposure (photography), exposures that freeze the variation of Astronomical seeing, atmospheri ...

. This measurement does not rule out a low mass stellar companion of spectral class M7. Eta Boötis presents as a

subgiant A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as giant stars. The term subgiant is applied both to a particular spectral luminosity class and to a stage in the evolution ...

that has begun the process of evolving from a

main sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a classification of stars which appear on plots of stellar color index, color versus absolute magnitude, brightness as a continuous and distinctive band. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or d ...

star into a

red giant A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The stellar atmosphere, outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface t ...

. It has about 1.7 times the mass of the Sun and 2.66 times the

Sun's radius Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of objects 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\ti ...

. The estimated age of this star is about 2.7 billion years. Based on its spectra, it has a significant excess of elements heavier than

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

. In fact the ratio of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

to hydrogen is considered close to the upper limit for

dwarf star A dwarf star is a star of relatively small size and low luminosity. Most main sequence stars are dwarf stars. The meaning of the word "dwarf" was later extended to some star-sized objects that are not stars, and compact stellar remnants that are ...

s in the galactic disk. Eta Boötis appears close to the prominent star

Arcturus , - bgcolor="#FFFAFA" , Note (category: variability): , , H and K emission vary. Arcturus is a red giant star in the Northern celestial hemisphere, northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It ha ...

(Alpha Bootis) in Earth's sky, and Arcturus is in fact its closest stellar neighbor, as both stars are nearly identical in distance from the Sun. The two stars are about 3.24 light-years apart, and each would appear bright in the other's sky. Arcturus would appear as roughly magnitude -5.2 (about 120 times brighter than it appears from Earth, or close to twice the brightness of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

) in the night sky of a hypothetical planet orbiting Eta Boötis, while Eta Boötis would appear at about magnitude −2.4 (absolute magnitude −2.41 at 0.99 parsec) in the sky of a hypothetical planet orbiting Arcturus, or over twice the brightness of

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ), meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbr ...

in the night sky.

References

External links

STARS
link

GJ 534

CCDM J13547+1824

Image Eta Boötis
* Richard Allen Hinkley, ''Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning'' (1889) 104 {{DEFAULTSORT:Eta Bootis G-type subgiants Bootis, Eta Spectroscopic binaries Boötes Bootis, Eta 5235 Durchmusterung objects Bootis, 08 0534 121370 067927 Muphrid

Nomenclature

Properties

See also

References

External links