{"id":63913,"date":"2024-09-24T09:42:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b2954c80-60b6-4426-a341-d54cb4d3e7d0"},"modified":"2024-09-24T10:39:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T10:39:42","slug":"alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake\/","title":{"rendered":"Alphard, the lonely star, is the brightest star in the constellation Hydra the Water Snake"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 24 September 2024 at 09:42 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Alphard is Hydra\u2019s brightest star at mag. +2.0, and it sits in an otherwise rather barren part of the sky.<\/p>

Appropriately, the name ‘Alphard’ means \u2018solitary one\u2019. <\/p>

Covering an area of 1,303 deg2<\/sup>, Hydra the Water Snake is the largest constellation<\/a> of all, but also a little obscure.<\/p>

Photo of star Alphard in Hydra. Credit: CEDIC Team BernhardHubl \/ CCDGuide.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Most of its pattern, representing the body of the snake, is marked by relatively faint stars.<\/p>

The head of the snake is more distinctive \u2013 a sideways tear-drop pattern south of Cancer, the Crab<\/a>.<\/p>

The snake\u2019s \u2018neck\u2019 falls southeast of the head and it’s here you\u2019ll find orange giant star Alphard (Alpha (\u03b1) Hydrae).<\/p>

Alphard’s visibility in the northern hemisphere in the night sky in the early part of the year denotes the oncoming of spring, and the star is visible throughout springtime.<\/p>

\"Chart
Chart showing the location of star Alphard in the constellation Hydra. Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

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

Physically, Alphard is around 50 times larger than our Sun but contains only three times the mass.<\/p>

Its spectrum is K3II\u2013III, the K3 meaning it is in the orange part of the stellar classification system that ranks stars according to temperature.<\/p>

The II\u2013III indicates it\u2019s a class of star between a bright giant and a normal giant.<\/p>

Having exhausted much of its hydrogen, Alphard is now fusing helium into heavier elements such as oxygen and carbon in its core.<\/p>

\"Photo
Photo of the constellation Hydra, showing stars Spica, Regulus and Alphard. Click to expand. Credit: CEDIC Team BernhardHubl \/ CCDGuide.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The star exhibits regular oscillations ranging from hours to days. It also has a small excess of barium.<\/p>

This is usually seen in binary systems where matter has been transferred from a white dwarf.<\/p>

No such companion is visible close to Alphard.<\/p>

Two more distant companions can be seen, of which only one, Alphard B, 282 arcseconds away, is considered to be a candidate for a true gravitational companion.<\/p>

Have you observed or photographed Alphard? Share your observations and images with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>

This guide appeared in the February 2019 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 24 September 2024 at 09:42 AM Alphard is Hydra\u2019s brightest star at mag. +2.0, and it sits in an otherwise rather barren part of the sky. Appropriately, the name ‘Alphard’ means \u2018solitary one\u2019. Covering an area of 1,303 deg2, Hydra the Water Snake is the largest constellation of all, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":63914,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake.jpg",1200,940,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake-300x235.jpg",300,235,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake-768x602.jpg",768,602,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake-1024x802.jpg",800,627,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake.jpg",1200,940,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/alphard-the-lonely-star-is-the-brightest-star-in-the-constellation-hydra-the-water-snake.jpg",1200,940,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, 24 September 2024 at 09:42 AM Alphard is Hydra\u2019s brightest star at mag. +2.0, and it sits in an otherwise rather barren part of the sky. Appropriately, the name ‘Alphard’ means \u2018solitary one\u2019. Covering an area of 1,303 deg2, Hydra the Water Snake is the largest constellation of all, but…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/63913"}],"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\/63914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}