Canopus

Bayer name	α Carinae
Cordoba Survey	CD −52 ° 1541
Bright Star Catalog	HR 2326 [1]
Henry Draper Catalog	HD 45348 [2]
Hipparcos catalog	HIP 30438 [3]
SAO catalog	SAO 234480 [4]
Tycho catalog	TYC 8534-2277-1 [5]
2MASS catalog	2MASS J06235709-5241441 [6]
Other names	Suhail • Suhel • CPD -52 ° 914 • FK5 245

Canopus (α Carinae) is the brightest star in the constellation Kiel des Schiff . It is the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius , but is so far south that it cannot be seen from Central Europe. It can only be observed from the southernmost part of Europe ( Gibraltar , Malta , Crete ). Due to its position near the south pole of the ecliptic and its great brightness, it serves as a guide star for many spacecraft .

Surname

Canopus is the brightest star in the Carina constellation (above).

"Alpha Carinae" is a name according to the Bayer classification . Alpha (α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Carinae (the genitive to Latin Carina, the ship's keel ) indicates that it belongs to the constellation Kiel of the ship.

Canopus was named after a ship's helmsman in the service of the mythical King Menelaus , see Canopus (Egyptian mythology) . The Arabic names Suhail or Suhel (stately, luminous, magnificent, carefree, effortless, calm) are less common and could not gain acceptance because other stars such as Gamma Velorum or Lambda Velorum also bear this name.

The star gives its name to Mount Canopus , a mountain in Antarctica.

Physical Properties

Distance measurements for the star initially fluctuated between 96 and 1,200 light years. With that, Canopus could have been one of the most energetic stars in the Milky Way . With the Hipparcos space telescope , which was brought into orbit in 1989, a distance of approx. 310 light years was determined by measuring the parallax .

Canopus, taken from the ISS expedition 6.

The difficulty in measuring arose from Canopus' unusual spectral class F0II. Stars of this class are rare and only poorly understood, as it is not known whether they are developing into a red giant or back to another stage. This makes it difficult to intrinsically estimate the distance based on the brightness . Thus, parallax determination with satellite support was the only way to correctly measure the distance.

Canopus is 14,000 times more luminous than the Sun and the brightest star in an area of 700 light years. In terms of brightness in the night sky, it is only surpassed by Sirius , who is only 8.6 light years away. Its diameter was by means of optical interferometry on Very Large Telescope of ESO be determined at 71.4 sun diameters; this results in a surface temperature of about 7500 K. If the star were the center of the solar system, its radius would be more than three quarters of the distance between Mercury and the sun. A planet with Earth-like temperature and climatic conditions would have to occupy an orbital radius around Canopus about three times as large as Pluto around the sun.

Canopus in literature

In the science fiction novel cycle Dune (dt. The desert planet ) written by Frank Herbert , Canopus is the central star of the planet Arrakis, on which the main part of the plot takes place.

In Friedrich Dürrenmatt's novella The Order , the star Canopus appears in the 23rd chapter as the bearer of hope for the protagonist F. He is also mentioned by name in the Psalm of Solomon to sing to the space travelers in the drama The Physicists .

In Doris Lessing's cycle of novels Canopus in Argos: Archives , Canopus is (alongside Sirius and Puttiora ) the seat of one of the three star realms .

Port city of Canopus

The ancient city of Canopus in the Nile Delta in Egypt lies south of the latitude 32 ° north. This location is characterized by the following effect: If you come by ship from the north, from Greece, and approach the then important port city of Canopus, Canopus rises (appropriate time of day depending on the season) sufficiently high above the horizon to be second brightest star in the sky to become visible.

Web links

Commons : Canopus - collection of images, videos and audio files

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/Sow/canopus.html

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Hipparcos catalog (ESA 1997)
↑ ^a ^b ^c Bright Star Catalog
↑ Pulkovo radial velocities for 35493 HIP stars
↑ ^a ^b ^c Hipparcos, the New Reduction (van Leeuwen, 2007)
↑ Estimation based on apparent brightness and distance
↑ ^a ^b A. Domiciano de Souza et al: Diameter and photospheric structures of Canopus from AMBER / VLTI interferometry . In: Astronomy and Astrophysics . tape 489 , 2008, p. L5-L8 , doi : 10.1051 / 0004-6361: 200810450 .
↑ P Cruzalèbes, A Jorissen, Y Rabbia, S Sacuto, A Chiavassa, E Pasquato, B Plez, K Eriksson, A Spang, O Chesneau: Fundamental parameters of 16 late-type stars derived from Their angular diameter Measured with VLTI / AMBER . In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 434, 2013, p. 437. arxiv : 1306.3288 . bibcode : 2013MNRAS.434..437C . doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stt1037 .
↑ ^a ^b Kaler, JB: The Hundred Greatest Stars . Springer, 2002, ISBN 0387954368 , p. 37.
^ Susanne Friedrich, Peter Friedrich, Klaus-Peter Schröder: Handbook Astronomy . Ed .: Ronald Stoyan. 1st edition. Oculum-Verlag GmbH, Erlangen 2015, ISBN 978-3-938469-73-6 , p. 530 (560 pp.).
↑ http://oe1.orf.at/programm/286344

[hip1-1] Hipparcos catalog (ESA 1997)

[hr-2] Bright Star Catalog

[Pulkovo-3] Pulkovo radial velocities for 35493 HIP stars

[hip2-4] Hipparcos, the New Reduction (van Leeuwen, 2007)

[ber-5] Estimation based on apparent brightness and distance

[Domiciano_de_Souza_2008-6] A. Domiciano de Souza et al: Diameter and photospheric structures of Canopus from AMBER / VLTI interferometry . In: Astronomy and Astrophysics . tape 489 , 2008, p. L5-L8 , doi : 10.1051 / 0004-6361: 200810450 .

[cruzalebes-7] P Cruzalèbes, A Jorissen, Y Rabbia, S Sacuto, A Chiavassa, E Pasquato, B Plez, K Eriksson, A Spang, O Chesneau: Fundamental parameters of 16 late-type stars derived from Their angular diameter Measured with VLTI / AMBER . In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 434, 2013, p. 437. arxiv : 1306.3288 . bibcode : 2013MNRAS.434..437C . doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stt1037 .

[100greatest-8] Kaler, JB: The Hundred Greatest Stars . Springer, 2002, ISBN 0387954368 , p. 37.

[9] Susanne Friedrich, Peter Friedrich, Klaus-Peter Schröder: Handbook Astronomy . Ed .: Ronald Stoyan. 1st edition. Oculum-Verlag GmbH, Erlangen 2015, ISBN 978-3-938469-73-6 , p. 530 (560 pp.).

[10] ttp://oe1.orf.at/programm/286344