{"id":64495,"date":"2024-10-08T10:24:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T10:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/556dd2a3-91ec-4d60-845c-dc670caabd8b"},"modified":"2024-10-08T10:39:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T10:39:39","slug":"star-mirphak-in-perseus","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/star-mirphak-in-perseus\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Mirphak in Perseus"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 08 October 2024 at 10:24 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The most striking thing about Mirphak (Alpha \u03b1 Persei), when you look at it through binoculars, is the small semi-circular pattern of stars that appears to nestle around it.<\/p>

There is a connection here as many of these stars belong to a cluster known as the Alpha Persei Cluster or Melotte 20.<\/p>

Open cluster Melotte 20, or the the Alpha Persei Cluster. Credit: Martin Gembec (http:\/\/astrofotky.cz\/~MaG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Observing Mirphak<\/strong><\/h2>

The constellation of Perseus is an awkward shape to describe while standing out under the stars.<\/p>

It represents the Greek Hero, Perseus, but trying to place stars and patterns within the constellation to match up with a hero can be challenging.<\/p>

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

In translation Mirphak means elbow but this relates to a larger meaning where it is referred to as \u2018the elbow of the Pleiades<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>

To the naked eye Mirphak appears as a mag. +1.8 star, slightly off-white in colour.<\/p>

Its spectral classification<\/a> is F5 Ib, the \u2018Ib\u2019 indicating that it’s classed as a less luminous supergiant, basically one that’s moving into the later stages of evolution.<\/p>

\"Photo
Photo showing star Mirphak near the Pleiades. Credit Bernhard Hubl \/ CCDGuide.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Only 30-50 million years ago Mirphak would have been a hot blue B-type star.<\/p>

It sits at a distance of 510 lightyears away and has a mass equivalent to 8.5 Suns.<\/p>

Its evolutionary stage means that its size is considerably larger than this mass would otherwise suggest, the star having expanded to an estimated 60x the Sun\u2019s diameter.<\/p>

It shines with the luminosity of 5,000 Suns and has a photospheric or surface temperature of around 6,350 K (the Sun\u2019s is 5,778 K).\u00a0<\/p>

Mirphak lies on the warm edge of a pulsating star class known as Cepheid variables.<\/p>

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

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By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 08 October 2024 at 10:24 AM The most striking thing about Mirphak (Alpha \u03b1 Persei), when you look at it through binoculars, is the small semi-circular pattern of stars that appears to nestle around it. There is a connection here as many of these stars belong to a cluster known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":64496,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/star-mirphak-in-perseus.jpg",1200,800,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, 08 October 2024 at 10:24 AM The most striking thing about Mirphak (Alpha \u03b1 Persei), when you look at it through binoculars, is the small semi-circular pattern of stars that appears to nestle around it. There is a connection here as many of these stars belong to a cluster known…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/64495"}],"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\/64496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}