Auva / Delta Virginis Facts (Type, Distance, Magnitude, Colour, Location & more)

Auva Facts

• Auva is a Giant Star.
• Based on the spectral type (M3III) of the star, the Auva colour is red .
• The star can be seen with the naked eye, that is, you don't need a telescope/binoculars to see it.
• Using the most recent figures given by the 2007 Hipparcos data, Auva distance from Earth is 198.40 light years.

Auva Location

The location of the giant star in the night sky is determined by the Right Ascension (R.A.) and Declination (Dec.), these are equivalent to the Longitude and Latitude on the Earth. The Right Ascension is how far expressed in time (hh:mm:ss) the star is along the celestial equator. If the R.A. is positive then its eastwards. The Declination is how far north or south the object is compared to the celestial equator and is expressed in degrees. For Auva, the location is 12h 55m 36.48 and +03°23`51.4 .

Auva Radial Velocity and Proper Motion

Auva Proper Motion

All stars like planets orbit round a central spot, in the case of planets, its the central star such as the Sun. In the case of a star, its the galactic centre. The constellations that 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 are measured in milliarcseconds. The star is moving -52.83 ± 0.14 milliarcseconds/year towards the north and -469.99 ± 0.22 milliarcseconds/year east if we saw them in the horizon.

Auva Radial Velocity

The Radial Velocity, that is the speed at which the star is moving away/towards the Sun is -18.87000 km/s . When the value is negative then the star and the Sun are getting closer to one another, likewise, a positive number means that two stars are moving away. Its nothing to fear as the stars are so far apart, they won't collide in our life-time, if ever.

Auva Physical Properties

Auva Colour

Based on the star's spectral type of M3III , Auva's colour and type is red giant star. Based on the spectral type, we can deduce that the surface temperature of the star is in the order of between below 3,500K based on the notes from Harvard University. To put this in context, the temperature of our Sun is about 5,778 Kelvin as said by Google.

Auva Radius

Auva estimated radius has been calculated as being 27.29 times bigger than the Sun. The Sun's radius is 695,800km, therefore the star's radius is an estimated 18,987,682.77.km. If you need the diameter of the star, you just need to multiple the radius by 2. However with the 2007 release of updated Hipparcos files, the radius is now calculated at being round 26.79. The figure is derived at by using the formula from SDSS rather than peer reviewed papers. It has been known to produce widely incorrect figures.

Auva Apparent (Brightness) and Absolute Magnitudes

Auva apparent magnitude is 3.39, this is a measure of the brightness of the star as seen from Earth. Apparent Magnitude is also known as Visual Magnitude. If you used the 1997 Parallax value, Auva absolute magnitude is -0.57 If you used the 2007 Parallax value, Auva absolute magnitude is -0.53.

Absolute Magnitude is the apparent magnitude of the star from a distance of 10 parsecs or 32.6 light years. This assumes that there is nothing in between the object and the viewer such as dust clouds. To really compare the brightness of the star, it is best to use Absolute rather than Apparent Magnitude.

Magnitude, whether it be apparent/visual or absolute magnitude is measured by a number, the smaller the number, the brighter the Star is. Our own Sun is the brightest star and therefore has the lowest of all magnitudes, -26.74. A faint star will have a high number.

Auva Distance from Earth

Using the original Hipparcos data that was released in 1997, the parallax to the star was given as 16.11000 which means Auva distance from Earth is 202.46 light years away from Earth or 62.07 parsecs. If you want that in miles, it is about 1,190,186,493,054,753.68, based on 1 Ly = 5,878,625,373,183.61 miles.

In 2007, Hipparcos data was revised with a new parallax of 16.44000 which puts Auva distance from Earth as 198.40 light years or 60.83 parsecs. It should not be taken as though the star is moving closer or further away from Earth. It is purely that the distance was recalculated.

Using the 2007 distance, the star is roughly 12,547,000.74 Astronomical Units from the Earth/Sun give or take a few. An Astronomical Unit is the distance between Earth and the Sun. The number of A.U. is the number of times that the star is from the Earth compared to the Sun.

Alternative Names and Meanings

• HIP63090 is the reference name for the star in the Hipparcos Star Catalogue.

Auva Travel Time

The time it will take to travel to this star is dependent on how fast you are going. U.G. has done some calculations as to how long it will take going at differing speeds. A note about the calculations, when I'm talking about years, I'm talking non-leap years only (365 days).

The New Horizons space probe is the fastest probe that we've sent into space at the time of writing. Its primary mission was to visit Pluto which at the time of launch (2006), Pluto was still a planet.

Mach 1 is the speed of sound, Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound. Corncorde before it was retired was the fastest commercial airline across the Atlantic and only one that could do Mach 2.

Source of Information

The source of the information if it has a Hip I.D. is from Simbad, the Hipparcos data library based at the University at Strasbourg, France. Hipparcos was a E.S.A. satellite operation launched in 1989 for four years. The items in red are values that I've calculated so they could well be wrong. Information regarding Metallicity and/or Mass is from the E.U. Exoplanets. The information was obtained as of 12th Feb 2017.