Alpha Camelopardalis

Coordinates: Sky map 04h 54m 03.01040s, +66° 20′ 33.6365″
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Alpha Camelopardalis
Location of α Camelopardalis (circled)
Observation data
ICRS
)
Constellation
Camelopardalis
Right ascension 04h 54m 03.01040s[1]
Declination +66° 20′ 33.6365″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 4.29[2]
Characteristics
Spectral type O9Ia[3]
U−B color index −0.87[2]
B−V color index +0.05[2]
R−I color index 0.00[2]
Distance
approx. 6,000 ly
(approx. 1,900 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)–7.1[5]
Details
Myr
PPM 15047, WDS J04541+6621, IRAS
04490+6615
Database references
SIMBADdata

Alpha Camelopardalis,

circumpolar constellation; the first and second-brightest stars being Beta Camelopardalis and CS Camelopardalis, respectively. It is the farthest constellational star, with a distance of approximately 6,000 light-years from Earth based on parallax
measurements.

Description

Alpha Camelopardalis has a stellar classification of O9 Ia, with the 'Ia' indicating that it is an O-type luminous supergiant. It is a massive star with 37.6 times the mass of the Sun and 32.5 times the Sun's radius. The effective temperature of the outer envelope is 29,000 K; much hotter than the Sun's effective temperature of 5,778 K, giving it the characteristic blue hue of an O-type star.[8] It is emitting 676,000 times the luminosity of the Sun and is a weak X-ray emitter.[9]

Variations in the profiles of Alpha Camelopardalis' spectral lines are caused by fluctuations in the

absorption lines in the optical spectrum show radial velocity variations, although there is significant uncertainty about the period. Estimates range from a period as low as 0.36 days up to 2.93 days. The stellar wind from this star is not smooth and continuous, but instead shows a behavior indicating clumping at both large and small scales.[10] This star is losing mass rapidly through its stellar wind at a rate of approximately 6.3 × 10−6 solar masses per year,[5]
or the equivalent of the mass of the Sun every 160,000 years.

In 1968, this star was classified as a

Haleakala Observatory failed to detect a secondary component.[12]

In 1961, based on the criteria that the

runaway star that had been ejected from the cluster NGC 1502. This was based upon the kinematic properties of the star and cluster, as well as the location of this star at a high galactic latitude in an area otherwise lacking in stellar associations. Over the course of a million years, this star should have moved only 1.4° across the sky, while it was estimated as being only two million years old.[7]

Runaway stars such as this with a stellar wind that is moving at supersonic velocity through the interstellar medium have their wind confined by a bow shock due to ram pressure. The dust in this bow shock can be detected using an infrared telescope.[14] Just such a bow shock was observed with NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The star is traveling at a rate of somewhere between 680 and 4,200 kilometers per second: between 1.5 and 9.4 million mph.[15]

Chinese name

In

R. H. Allen, the meaning is "Minor Guard", but it is not clearly designated.[19]

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 18759600
    .
  2. ^
    Bibcode:2002yCat.2237....0D
    .
  3. S2CID 119248206
    .
  4. Bibcode:1953GCRV..C......0W
  5. ^
    doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020153
    See Table 1.
  6. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20034594
    .
  7. ^
    Bibcode:1961BAN....15..265B
  8. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, December 21, 2004, archived from the original
    on March 18, 2012, retrieved 2012-01-16
  9. doi:10.1086/110378
  10. S2CID 14180933
  11. S2CID 18121243
  12. S2CID 15819352
  13. doi:10.1086/191208
  14. doi:10.1086/118298
  15. ^ Clavin, Whitney (March 11, 2011), "Speed demon creates a shock", physorg, retrieved 2011-12-24
  16. ISBN 978-986-7332-25-7
    .
  17. ^ (in Chinese) AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 6 月 11 日 Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ English-Chinese Glossary of Chinese Star Regions, Asterisms and Star Name Archived 2008-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Hong Kong Space Museum. Accessed on line November 23, 2010
  19. ^
    Bibcode:1899sntm.book.....A
    , retrieved 2011-12-24


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