Nu Ursae Majoris
Star in the constellation Ursa Major
Nu Ursae Majoris
Location of ν Ursae Majoris (circled)
Observation dataEpoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS )
Constellation
Ursa Major
Right ascension
11h 18m 28.73720s [ 1]
Declination
+33° 05′ 39.5109″[ 1]
Apparent magnitude (V)
+3.490[ 2]
Characteristics
Spectral type
K3 III[ 3]
U−B color index
+1.550[ 2]
B−V color index
+1.400[ 2]
Astrometry Radial velocity (Rv )-9.63 ± 0.38 [ 4] km/sProper motion (μ) RA: −26.139 mas /yr [ 1] Dec.: 27.892 mas /yr [ 1] Parallax (π)8.17 ± 0.17 mas [ 5] Distance 399 ± 8 ly (122 ± 3 pc ) Absolute magnitude (MV )−2.47 ± 0.16 [ 6]
Details Mass 3.82± 0.23[ 7] M ☉ Radius 60+1.24 −1.29 [ 7] R ☉ Luminosity 1242± 81[ 7] L ☉ Surface gravity (log g )1.89[ 6] cgs Temperature 4,422± 26[ 7] K Metallicity [Fe/H]–0.04[ 6] dex Rotational velocity (v sin i )10[ 8] km/s Age 200± 30[ 7] Myr
Other designations Alula Borealis, ν Ursae Majoris, ν UMa, Nu UMa, 54 Ursae Majoris,
BD +33 2098,
CCDM J11185+3306A,
FK5 425,
GC 15547,
HD 98262,
HIP 55219,
HR 4377,
IDS 11131+3338 A,
PPM 75790,
SAO 62486,
WDS J11185+3306A
[ 9]
Database references SIMBAD data
Nu Ursae Majoris (ν Ursae Majoris , abbreviated Nu UMa , ν UMa ), formally named Alula Borealis ,[ 10] [ 11] is a double star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major . At an apparent visual magnitude of +3.490,[ 2] it is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Based upon parallax measurements, the distance to ν Ursae Majoris is about 399 light-years (122 parsecs ).[ 5] At such distance, its apparent brightness is diminished by 0.48 magnitudes due to interveining gas and dust .[ 7]
This is a giant star with a stellar classification of K3 III.[ 3] Being 200 million years old, it has expanded to about 60 times the radius of the Sun and is radiating 1240 times the Sun's luminosity . The effective temperature of the outer envelope is 4,422 K;[ 7] cool enough to give it an orange hue typical of a K-type star.[ 12] It has a 10th-magnitude optical companion at an angular separation of 7.1 arcseconds .
Nomenclature
ν Ursae Majoris (Latinised to Nu Ursae Majoris ) is the star's Bayer designation .
It also bore the traditional name of Alula Borealis .[ 13] Alula (shared with Xi Ursae Majoris ) comes from the Arabic phrase Al Ḳafzah al Ūla 'the First Spring'.[ 14] and Borealis is Latin for 'northern'. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[ 15] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016[ 16] included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Alula Borealis for this star.
In Chinese , 三台 (Sān Tái ), meaning Three Steps , refers to an asterism consisting of Nu Ursae Majoris, Iota Ursae Majoris , Kappa Ursae Majoris , Lambda Ursae Majoris , Mu Ursae Majoris , and Xi Ursae Majoris . Consequently, the Chinese name for Nu Ursae Majoris itself is 下台一 (Xià Tái yī , English: Star of First Lower Step ).[ 17]
References
^ a b c Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties" . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 674 : A1. arXiv :2208.00211 . Bibcode :2023A&A...674A...1G . doi :10.1051/0004-6361/202243940 . S2CID 244398875 .
Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR .
^ a b c d Jennens, P. A.; Helfer, H. L. (September 1975), "A new photometric metal abundance and luminosity calibration for field G and K giants.", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 172 (3): 667– 679, Bibcode :1975MNRAS.172..667J , doi :10.1093/mnras/172.3.667
^ a b Morgan, W. W.; Keenan, P. C. (1973), "Spectral Classification", Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics , 11 : 29– 50, Bibcode :1973ARA&A..11...29M , doi :10.1146/annurev.aa.11.090173.000333
^ Famaey, B.; et al. (January 2005), "Local kinematics of K and M giants from CORAVEL/Hipparcos/Tycho-2 data. Revisiting the concept of superclusters", Astronomy and Astrophysics , 430 : 165– 186, arXiv :astro-ph/0409579 , Bibcode :2005A&A...430..165F , doi :10.1051/0004-6361:20041272 , S2CID 17804304
^ a b van Leeuwen, F. (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics , 474 (2): 653– 664, arXiv :0708.1752 , Bibcode :2007A&A...474..653V , doi :10.1051/0004-6361:20078357 , S2CID 18759600
^ a b c Piau, L.; et al. (February 2011), "Surface convection and red-giant radius measurements", Astronomy and Astrophysics , 526 : A100, arXiv :1010.3649 , Bibcode :2011A&A...526A.100P , doi :10.1051/0004-6361/201014442 , S2CID 118533297
^ a b c d e f g Baines, Ellyn K.; Armstrong, J. Thomas; Schmitt, Henrique R.; Zavala, R. T.; Benson, James A.; Hutter, Donald J.; Tycner, Christopher; van Belle, Gerard T. (2017). "Fundamental parameters of 87 stars from the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer" . The Astronomical Journal . 155 (1): 16. arXiv :1712.08109 . Bibcode :2018AJ....155...30B . doi :10.3847/1538-3881/aa9d8b . S2CID 119427037 .
^ Bernacca, P. L.; Perinotto, M. (1970), "A catalogue of stellar rotational velocities", Contributi Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova in Asiago , 239 (1): 1, Bibcode :1970CoAsi.239....1B
^ "54 UMa -- Star in double system" , SIMBAD , Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg , retrieved 2012-01-11
^ Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub. ISBN 978-1-931559-44-7 .
^ "IAU Catalog of Star Names" . Retrieved 28 July 2016 .
^ "The Colour of Stars" , Australia Telescope, Outreach and Education , Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation , December 21, 2004, archived from the original on December 3, 2013, retrieved 2012-01-16
^ Piazzi, G. , The Palermo Catalogue , Palermo, 1814.
^ Richard Hinckley Allen :Star Names — Their Lore and Meaning - Ursa Major, the Greater Bear
^ "IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)" . Retrieved 22 May 2016 .
^ "Bulletin of the IAU Working Group on Star Names, No. 1" (PDF) . Retrieved 28 July 2016 .
^ (in Chinese) (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 6 月 21 日 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine