18 Tauri Star Facts (Type, Distance, Magnitude, Age, Mass, Colour, Location and more)

18 Tauri is a main sequence star located in the constellation of Taurus, The Bull. It is not part of the Taurus constellation outline but is within the borders of the constellation.

Based on the spectral type (B8V), 18 Tauri colour is blue, which means that the star is one of the hottest stars in the Universe, hotter than our star.

18 Tauri temperature is in the range of 10,000 to 30,000 Kelvin. 18 Tauri effective temperature is 11,636 Kelvin which is hotter than the Sun's effective temperature, which is 5,777 Kelvin. The uncertainty range for the effective temperature is between -1748 and +2097. Based on a parallax of 7.97, 18 Tauri distance from Earth can be calculated at being 409.24 light years away or 112.74 parsecs.

18 Tauri is a naked-eye star, so you don't need a telescope or binoculars when you look up on a clear night. The lower the magnitude, the easier it will be to see it.

Location

The location of the 18 Tauri in the night sky is determined by the right ascension (R.A.) and declination (Dec.). These are equivalent to the Longitude and Latitude on Earth. The Right Ascension (Longitude) is expressed in time (hh:mm:ss) and is how far the star is along Earth's celestial equator. If the R.A. is positive, then it's eastwards and vice versa.

The Declination (Latitude) is how far north or south the object is compared to the celestial equator and is expressed in degrees. If the value is positive, it is north of the celestial equator. For 18 Tauri, the location is 03h 45m 09.73 and +24° 50` 21.7 .

Based on the location of Taurus, 18 Tauri can be located in the equatorial region of the celestial sky. The celestial hemisphere is equivalent to the hemispheres on Earth. Being in the equatorial region, 18 Tauri can be seen in both terrestrial hemispheres but there is a caveat of depending how far south and north you are. 18 Tauri is on the Ecliptic. The Ecliptic is the path that the Earth takes as it orbits the Sun. As the Earth is titled, we therefore have Celestial and Ecliptic hemispheres and they can be different for a star.

Physical Properties

Spectral Type

18 Tauri spectral type of B8V which means its colour and type is blue main sequence star. There is no relationship between colour and size. For example, a red star can be large or small. Small stars are more energy efficient than larger stars and live longer.

18 Tauri Luminosity

Luminosity is the amount of energy a star pumps out relative to the amount that our star, the Sun, gives out. Our star, the Sun's value is 1. 18 Tauri Luminosity figure of 107.21 comes from the Vizier online catalogue. The star generates more energy than our star.

18 Tauri Size (Radius)

18 Tauri radius has been calculated as being 2.614 times bigger than the Sun. The Sun's radius is 695,800km, therefore, the 18 Tauri radius is an estimated 1,818,821.2.km. If you need the star's diameter, you just need to multiply the radius by 2. The error range for the radius is between 0.29000 and 0.39600.

18 Tauri Mass

18 Tauri mass is 3.323 times that of our star, the Sun. There is an uncertainty of between -0.461 and +0.7380. The Sun's Mass is 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000 billion kg. which to calculate using this website is too large. To give an idea of size, the Sun is 99.86% of the solar system's mass.

18 Tauri Death

We can't be sure when 18 Tauri will die, we can have estimations based on its spectral type and mass. Based on current estimations with 18 Tauri having less than 10 solar masses, 18 Tauri will most likely first start losing its mass in solar winds in a Planetary Nebula phase before the nebula disperses leaving behind a White Dwarf.

18 Tauri Metallicity

18 Tauri metallicity is -0.010000, this value is the fractional amount of the star that is not Hydrogen (X) or Helium (Y). An older star would have a high metallicity whereas a new star would have a lower one. The uncertainty range on the Metallicity is between -0.100 and +0.100.

18 Tauri Surface Gravity

The Surface Gravity of 18 Tauri as measured in CGS (Centimeter-Gram-Second) is 3.860. The gravity has a relationship to its mass and radius. The larger the mass, the larger the gravity. 18 Tauri surface gravity has an uncertainty range of between -0.156 and +0.130.

Magnitude (Apparent / Absolute / Visible)

A number represents a star’s magnitude, whether apparent/visual or absolute. The smaller the number, the brighter the star is. The Sun is the brightest star and therefore has the lowest of all magnitudes, -26.74. A faint star will have a high number.

18 Tauri apparent magnitude is 5.66, which is a measure of the star's brightness as seen from Earth. Apparent Magnitude is also known as Visual Magnitude.

If you use the 1997 parallax value, 18 Tauri' absolute magnitude is 0.40. If you use the 2007 parallax value, 18 Tauri' absolute magnitude is 0.17. Absolute Magnitude is the star's apparent magnitude from 10 parsecs or 32.6 light years. The magnitude assumes nothing is between the object and the viewer, such as dust clouds. To compare different stars' actual brightness, you would best use Absolute rather than Apparent Magnitude.

18 Tauri is visible from Earth without needing binoculars or a telescope. The lower the Apparent Magnitude of a star or other object is, the easier it is to see in the night sky. An object with a magnitude greater than 6.5 cannot be seen without a telescope or other device.


Radial Velocity and Proper Motion

In simplistic terms, all non-rogue stars, like planets, orbit around a central object, although that is actually not true. Where is the centre of the Solar System. For simplicity it's the central star, such as the Sun. In the case of a star, it's the galactic centre. The constellations we see today will be different than they were 50,000 years ago or 50,000 years from now.

Proper motion details the movements of these stars and is measured in milliarcseconds. 18 Tauri is moving -46.52 ± 0.2 milliarcseconds/year towards the north and 20.36 ± 0.37 milliarcseconds/year east if we saw them in the horizon.

The radial velocity, the speed at which the 18 Tauri is moving away from the Sun, is 4.80000 km/s with an error of about 0.80 km/s . When the value is negative, the star and the Sun are getting closer to one another; likewise, a positive number means that two stars are moving away. It's nothing to fear as the stars are so far apart they won't collide in our lifetime, if ever.

18 Tauri Fact Table

The table is scrollable if you can't see everything, just swipe the table to see the hidden information.

Primary Name18 Tauri
Spectral TypeB8V
Star TypeHigh proper-motion Star
Colour blue
GalaxyMilky Way
ConstellationTaurus
Main StarNo
Absolute Magnitude 0.40 / 0.17
Visual / Apparent Magnitude5.66
Visible From Earth Yes
Right Ascension (R.A.)03h 45m 09.73
Declination (Dec.)+24° 50` 21.7
Galactic Latitude-23.26427085 °
Galactic Longitude165.70504129 °
1997 Distance from Earth8.87000 Parallax (milliarcseconds)
 367.72 Light Years
 112.74 Parsecs
2007 Distance from Earth7.97000 Parallax (milliarcseconds)
 409.24 Light Years
 125.47 Parsecs
 25,879,864.906 Astronomical Units
Galacto-Centric Distance24,498.129 Light Years / 7,511 Parsecs
Proper Motion Dec.-46.52000 ± 0.20000 milliarcseconds/year
Proper Motion RA.20.36000 ± 0.37000 milliarcseconds/year
B-V Index-0.06
Radial Velocity4.80000 ± 0.8 km/s
Eccentricity0.09470
Semi-Major Axis6872.0000000
Luminosity (Lsun)107.2100000
Mass (Solars) 3.3230 (-0.461 / +0.7380)
Effective Temp. (Kelvin) 11,636 (-1748 / +2097)
Surface Gravity (cgs) 3.860 (-0.156 / +0.130)
Radius2.614 (-0.29 / +0.396)

Sources and Links


Modified Date13th July 2024
Published DateJan 2015
SIMBAD SourceLink
EPIC SourceEpic Search
SourceVizier, Vizier,


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