Achernar

Starbox begin
name=Achernar Starbox image


caption=The position of Achernar. Starbox observe
epoch=J2000
constell=Eridanus
ra=01h 37m 42.8s
dec=−57° 14' 12"
appmag_v=0.50 Starbox character
class=B3 Vpe
b-v=−0.20
u-b=−0.66
variable=Lambda Eridani Starbox astrometry
radial_v=16
prop_mo_ra=88.02
prop_mo_dec=−40.08
gal_lat=−58.7920
gal_lon=290.8412
parallax=022.68
p_error=0.57
absmag_v=−2.77 Starbox detail
age=1–5 × 10⁸
metal=
mass=6–8
radius=~10
rotation=225–300 km/s
luminosity=3,311(bolometric) | temperature=14,510 Starbox catalog
names=α Eri, HR 472, CD -57°334, HD 10144, SAO 232481, FK5 54, HIP 7588.

Achernar (α Eri / α Eridani / Alpha Eridani), sometimes spelled Achenar, is the brightest star in the constellation Eridanus and the eighth-brightest star in the nighttime sky. It lies at the southern tip of the constellation.

Achernar is a bright, blue B-type star of six to eight solar masses lying approximately convert|144|ly|pc|abbr=off|lk=on away. Although classified as a main-sequence (dwarf) star, it is about 3,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Achernar is in the deep southern sky and never rises above 33°N. Achernar is best seen from the southern hemisphere in November; it is circumpolar below 33°S.

Until about March 2000, Achernar and Fomalhaut were the two first-magnitude stars furthest in angular distance from any other first-magnitude star in the celestial sphere. Antares, in the constellation of Scorpius, is now the most isolated first-magnitude star.

It is the least spherical star in the Milky Way studied to date. Achernar spins so rapidly that its equatorial diameter is more than 50% greater than its polar diameter.

The name comes from the Arabic _ar. آخر النهر " _ar. ākhir an-nahr" "river's end".

It is known as _zh. 水委一 (" _zh. Shuǐwěiyī", the First Star of the Crooked Running Water) in Chinese.

Fiction

* Achernar in fiction

External links

* [http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/achernar.htm Achernar at solstation.com]
* [http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/stars/achernar.htm Achernar at absoluteastronomy.com]
* [http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0602084 Surface temperature and synthetic spectral energy distributions for rotationally deformed stars]