Alpha Sculptoris (α Scl / α Sculptoris) is a
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
in the
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
SculptorSculptor is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. It represents a sculptor. It was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the eighteenth century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris , but the name was later shortened.-Notable features:No bright stars brighter than 3rd...
.
Alpha Sculptoris is a blue-white
B-typeIn astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based on its spectral characteristics. The spectral class of a star, is a designation of a class to a star describing the ionization of its chromosphere, what atomic excitations are most prominent in the light, giving an objective...
giantA giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main sequence star of the same surface temperature. Typically, giant stars have radii between 10 and 100 solar radii and luminosities between 10 and 1,000 times that of the Sun. Stars still more luminous than giants are...
with an
apparent magnitudeThe apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
of +4.30. It is approximately 680 light years from
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
. It is classified as an
SX Arietis typeSX Arietis variables are a class of variable stars. They are high-temperature analogues of Alpha2 Canum Venaticorum variables and exhibit strong magnetic fields and intense He I and Si III spectral lines. They have brightness fluctuations of approximately 0.1 magnitudes with periods of...
variable starA star is classified as variable if its apparent brightness as seen from Earth changes over time, whether the changes are due to variations in the star's actual luminosity, or to variations in the amount of the star's light that is blocked from reaching Earth...
and its magnitude varies by 0.01.
The
luminosityLuminosity is a measurement of brightness usually denoted in Lumens.-In photometry and color imaging:In photometry, luminosity is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to luminance, which is the density of luminous intensity in a given direction...
of α Scl is around 1700 times that of the
SunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
while its surface temperature is 14,000
kelvinThe kelvin is a unit increment of temperature and is one of the seven SI base units. The Kelvin scale is a thermodynamic temperature scale where absolute zero, the theoretical absence of all thermal energy, is zero kelvin...
s. The radius of Alpha Sculptoris is calculated to be 7 times solar while its
massThe solar mass , , is a standard way to express mass in astronomy, used to describe the masses of other stars and galaxies. It is equal to the mass of the Sun, about two nonillion kilograms or about 332,950 times the mass of the Earth or 1,048 times the mass of Jupiter.The solar mass can be...
5.5 times that of our own star.
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Alpha Sculptoris (α Scl / α Sculptoris) is a
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
in the
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
SculptorSculptor is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. It represents a sculptor. It was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the eighteenth century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris , but the name was later shortened.-Notable features:No bright stars brighter than 3rd...
.
Alpha Sculptoris is a blue-white
B-typeIn astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based on its spectral characteristics. The spectral class of a star, is a designation of a class to a star describing the ionization of its chromosphere, what atomic excitations are most prominent in the light, giving an objective...
giantA giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main sequence star of the same surface temperature. Typically, giant stars have radii between 10 and 100 solar radii and luminosities between 10 and 1,000 times that of the Sun. Stars still more luminous than giants are...
with an
apparent magnitudeThe apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
of +4.30. It is approximately 680 light years from
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
. It is classified as an
SX Arietis typeSX Arietis variables are a class of variable stars. They are high-temperature analogues of Alpha2 Canum Venaticorum variables and exhibit strong magnetic fields and intense He I and Si III spectral lines. They have brightness fluctuations of approximately 0.1 magnitudes with periods of...
variable starA star is classified as variable if its apparent brightness as seen from Earth changes over time, whether the changes are due to variations in the star's actual luminosity, or to variations in the amount of the star's light that is blocked from reaching Earth...
and its magnitude varies by 0.01.
The
luminosityLuminosity is a measurement of brightness usually denoted in Lumens.-In photometry and color imaging:In photometry, luminosity is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to luminance, which is the density of luminous intensity in a given direction...
of α Scl is around 1700 times that of the
SunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
while its surface temperature is 14,000
kelvinThe kelvin is a unit increment of temperature and is one of the seven SI base units. The Kelvin scale is a thermodynamic temperature scale where absolute zero, the theoretical absence of all thermal energy, is zero kelvin...
s. The radius of Alpha Sculptoris is calculated to be 7 times solar while its
massThe solar mass , , is a standard way to express mass in astronomy, used to describe the masses of other stars and galaxies. It is equal to the mass of the Sun, about two nonillion kilograms or about 332,950 times the mass of the Earth or 1,048 times the mass of Jupiter.The solar mass can be...
5.5 times that of our own star. Spectral variations observed in this star where once believed to be caused by an orbiting
black holeIn general relativity, a black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape. The black hole has a one-way surface, called an event horizon, into which objects can fall, but out of which nothing can come...
but are now known to be the result of
chemicalChemistry is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions...
variations in its atmosphere.
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