{"id":63864,"date":"2024-09-17T08:57:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T08:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/af4088ae-d9e6-423e-910f-097452a1c94b"},"modified":"2024-09-18T09:40:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T09:40:55","slug":"fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus\/","title":{"rendered":"Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 17 September 2024 at 08:57 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The faint constellation of Piscis Austrinus is redeemed by its primary star Fomalhaut (Alpha (\u03b1) Piscis Austrini).<\/p>

This star is quite special because it’s the most southerly first-magnitude<\/a> star visible from the UK.<\/p>

Chart showing the location of Fomalhaut in October, just about peaking above a flat, clear horizon. Click chart to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Shining at mag. +1.2, Fomalhaut (commonly pronounced \u2018fom\u2013a\u2013low\u2019 or \u2018fom-al-ha\u2019) is very easy to miss because it\u2019s located so far south in the sky.<\/p>

Indeed, from the centre of the UK, it reaches only around 7\u00b0 altitude when due south.<\/p>

If you want to find it for yourself, you locate the star by extending the western side of the Great Square of Pegasus<\/a> due south.<\/p>

\"Chart
Chart showing the location of star Fomalhaut. Click chart to expand. Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Facts about Fomalhaut<\/strong><\/h2>

Piscis Austrinus represents the Southern Fish, Fomalhaut meaning \u2018mouth of the southern fish\u2019.<\/p>

It\u2019s a relatively close neighbour of the Sun at a distance of 25.1 lightyears<\/a> and measures 1.8 times larger than our Sun.<\/p>

It\u2019s a white star<\/a> of spectral class A3V, V indicating it\u2019s a dwarf.<\/p>

It has two 13th-magnitude dwarf companions: Fomalhaut B (TW Piscis Austrini), a K4-type dwarf, and Fomalhaut C (LP 876-10), a red dwarf of spectral type M4.<\/p>

\"Eye
Eye of Sauron: Hubble\u2019s 2008 image of Fomalhaut b \u2013 the first visual image of an exoplanet. Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley and SETI Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The star is also surrounded by several debris discs. In 2008, planet Fomalhaut b (subsequently named Dagon) became the first to be directly imaged in visible light.<\/p>

However, follow-up observations suggest this is actually a dispersing dust cloud, the result of a massive planetesimal collision.<\/p>

If you manage to capture images of the star or have any fond memories of observing it graze the horizon, let us know?<\/p>

Share your images and observing experiences with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

This guide appeared in the October 2024 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 08:57 AM The faint constellation of Piscis Austrinus is redeemed by its primary star Fomalhaut (Alpha (\u03b1) Piscis Austrini). This star is quite special because it’s the most southerly first-magnitude star visible from the UK. Chart showing the location of Fomalhaut in October, just about peaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":63865,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus.jpg",2000,1336,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus-768x513.jpg",768,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus-1024x684.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus-1536x1026.jpg",1536,1026,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/fomalhaut-in-piscis-austrinus.jpg",2000,1336,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 08:57 AM The faint constellation of Piscis Austrinus is redeemed by its primary star Fomalhaut (Alpha (\u03b1) Piscis Austrini). This star is quite special because it’s the most southerly first-magnitude star visible from the UK. Chart showing the location of Fomalhaut in October, just about peaking…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/63864"}],"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\/63865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}