Hey, my eye just captured some light that, depending on whose measurements are correct, is either as old as the Middle ages, or predates the Christian era.
So it’s really bright and really far? Presumably 2k+ light years away? I’m more of a “space enthusiast” than a proper astronomer so my knowledge is limited
Yeah. It’s big and bright and far. There’s one other “naked eye” star that’s further away, but it’s a lot dimmer. Deneb is unique in a lot of ways.
- Since 1943, its spectrum has served as one of the stable references by which other stars are classified.
- Deneb is the prototype of the Alpha Cygni (α Cygni) variable stars, whose small irregular amplitudes and rapid pulsations can cause its magnitude to vary anywhere between 1.21 and 1.29.
- Identifying whether Deneb is currently evolving towards a red supergiant or is currently evolving bluewards again would place valuable constraints on the classes of stars that explode as red supergiants and those that explode as hotter stars.
- Deneb spent much of its early life as an O-type main-sequence star of about 23 M☉, but it has now exhausted the hydrogen in its core and expanded to become a supergiant.
- It is one of the largest white ‘A’ spectral type stars known.
See for yourself!
Wait how would a star “evolve bluewards again”? I thought when a star fuses all of its smaller elements into heavier ones, it’s a one way trip
Wow. This goes well beyond “casual conversation” 😅
But your article is saying that it happens, and a large factor is mass being ejected, and I can understand that I suppose. Cool!
Well…
I started casual…
True, but it’s Betelgeuse that might go supernova in our lifetime.
And there better not be clouds in the sky like there is any other time there’s a show in the sky here, or I might be investing in weather modification.
