Voyager . . .

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

The Nautical Almanac # 52 --- Alpha Pavonis, the Peacock Star


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It was the 1930s when the British Astronomer Royal realized that the 52nd star in the Nautical Almanac, the brightest star in the constellation Pavo The Peacock, was nameless. So, with an utter lack of imagination he named it "Peacock," a name which has no gravitas next to Aldebaran, Rigil Kentaurus, and Betelgeuse, but which describes its bluish-white color fairly accurately. Its scientific name, Alpha Pavonis, is a better choice by far. 

Alpha Pavonis is some 182 light years from the Earth. Like all stars of its color, Alpha Pavonis is hot. It burns at 31,528 degrees Fahrenheit. Although it is far away, it is a second magnitude star, meaning that it is luminous --- 2,200 times as bright as the Sun. It is 5.91 times the Sun's mass and 4.83 times the radius. 

Alpha Pavonis is 48 million years old, and like most blue stars it will live fast and aggressively and die quickly. It may in fact be leaving its Main Sequence as we speak. 

It is thought to be a multistar system, with a pair of Magnitude 9 red dwarfs within a short distance away, and an even more dim 12th magnitude companion circling them all. Virtually nothing is known of these three companion stars.

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