{"id":63856,"date":"2024-09-17T13:02:17","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T13:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecc6e8f3-36ec-4595-b19c-0046a44704e0"},"modified":"2024-09-18T07:40:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T07:40:55","slug":"almach-in-andromeda","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/almach-in-andromeda\/","title":{"rendered":"Almach in Andromeda"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 17 September 2024 at 13:02 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Almach (Gamma (\u03b3) Andromedae) sits at the eastern end of the wedge-shaped constellation of Andromeda.<\/p>

Much like double star Albireo<\/a> in Cygnus<\/a>, Almach is a quadruple star whose component stars offer a spectacular yellow-blue colour contrast.<\/p>

Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The primary, Gamma^{1<\/sup> (\u03b3^{1<\/sup>) Andromedae, is a giant star nearing the end of its life, estimated to be 80 times larger than the Sun and 2,000 times more luminous.<\/p>}}
At 350 lightyears away, we see Gamma^{1<\/sup> shining at mag. +2.3.<\/p>}
Its companion, Gamma^{2<\/sup> (\u03b3^{2<\/sup>) Andromedae, is mag. +4.9 and appears 9.6 arcseconds from the primary.<\/p>}}
Consequently, it\u2019s pretty straightforward to split Almach even with a small scope.\u00a0<\/p>
To observe Almach with a telescope, we\u2019d recommend using an eyepiece that gives a power of around 50-75x to start, but don\u2019t be afraid to increase magnification to a level that gives you a more pleasing view.<\/p>
Colour contrast makes Gamma^{2<\/sup> look bluish in colour.<\/p>}
$\"Chart$
The name Almach (sometimes Almaak) translates as \u2018the caracal\u2019, a Middle-Eastern wild cat. Click chart to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
**About the Almach star system<\/strong><\/h2>**As is often the case with binary stars<\/a>, there\u2019s more here than at first meets the eye.<\/p>
Gamma^{2<\/sup> is itself a close binary of mag. +5.1 and +6.3 stars separated by an average of 0.3 arcseconds and with an orbital period of 63.7 years.<\/p>}
$\"Quadruple$
Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The orbit is highly elliptical, with extremes of physical separation ranging from 13 to 52 AU, the average distance being 33 AU.<\/p>
The brighter component of the Gamma^{2<\/sup> pair also turns out to be a spectroscopic binary, with components orbiting one another every 2.67 days.<\/p>}
What originally looked like a beautifully coloured binary system is now at least a quadruple.<\/p>
The combined magnitudes of the system present us with a naked-eye star of mag. +2.1.<\/p>
***If you’ve observed or captured images of Almach, get in touch by emailing*** ***contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>***
***This article appeared in the November 2017 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n***
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 17 September 2024 at 13:02 PM Almach (Gamma (\u03b3) Andromedae) sits at the eastern end of the wedge-shaped constellation of Andromeda. Much like double star Albireo in Cygnus, Almach is a quadruple star whose component stars offer a spectacular yellow-blue colour contrast. Credit: Pete Lawrence The primary, Gamma1 (\u03b31) Andromedae, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":63857,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda-768x403.jpg",768,403,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda-1024x538.jpg",800,420,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/almach-in-andromeda.jpg",1200,630,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 17 September 2024 at 13:02 PM Almach (Gamma (\u03b3) Andromedae) sits at the eastern end of the wedge-shaped constellation of Andromeda. Much like double star Albireo in Cygnus, Almach is a quadruple star whose component stars offer a spectacular yellow-blue colour contrast. Credit: Pete Lawrence The primary, Gamma1 (\u03b31) Andromedae,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/63856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}