Alpha Lyncis (40 Lyncis)

Alpha Lyncis Facts

• Alpha Lyncis's star type is giant star that can be located in the constellation of Lynx. The description is based on the spectral class.
• Alpha Lyncis is a main star of the constellation outline.
• Based on the spectral type (M0IIIvar) of the star, the star's colour is red .
• Alpha Lyncis is the 1st brightest star in Lynx based on the Hipparcos 2007 apparent magnitude. 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, the star is 203.09 light years away from us.

Alpha Lyncis's Alternative Names

Alpha Lyncis (Alf Lyn) is the Bayer Classification for the star. The Id of the star in the Yale Bright Star Catalogue is HR3705. HIP45860 is the reference name for the star in the Hipparcos Star Catalogue. The Id of the star in the Henry Draper catalogue is HD80493.

Flamsteed designations are named after the creator, Sir John Flamsteed. Sir John numbered the stars in the constellation with a number and the latin name, this star's Flamsteed designation is 40 Lyncis with it shortened to 40 Lyn.

BD number is the number that the star was filed under in the Durchmusterung or Bonner Durchmusterung, a star catalogue that was put together by the Bonn Observatory between 1859 to 1903. The star's BD Number is BD+35 1979.

More details on objects' alternative names can be found at Star Names .

Location of Alpha Lyncis

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 Alpha Lyncis, the location is 09h 21m 03.46 and +34° 23` 33.1 .

Radial Velocity and Proper Motion of Alpha Lyncis

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 15.18 ± 0.14 miliarcseconds/year towards the north and -223.63 ± 0.17 miliarcseconds/year east if we saw them in the horizon.

The Radial Velocity, that is the speed at which the star is moving away/towards the Sun is 38.47 km/s with an error of about 0.20 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.

Alpha Lyncis Luminosity

Luminosity is the amount of energy that a star pumps out and its relative to the amount that our star, the Sun gives out. The figure of 615.45 that I have given is based on the value in the Simbad Hipparcos Extended Catalogue at the University of Strasbourg from 2012.

Physical Properties (Colour, Temperature) of Alpha Lyncis

Alpha Lyncis has a spectral type of M0IIIvar. This means the star is a red giant star. The star is 7,444.00 Parsecs from the Galactic Centre or in terms of Light Years is 24,279.60 s. The star has a B-V Colour Index of 1.55 which means the star's temperature has been calculated using information from Morgans @ Uni.edu at being 3,892 Kelvin.

Alpha Lyncis Radius has been calculated as being 32.85 times bigger than the Sun.The Sun's radius is 695,800km, therefore the star's radius is an estimated 22,858,734.37.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 30.10. The figure is derived at by using the formula from SDSS and has been known to produce widely incorrect figures. The star's Iron Abundance is -0.13 with an error value of 9.99 Fe/H with the Sun has a value of 1 to put it into context.

Alpha Lyncis Apparent and Absolute Magnitudes

Alpha Lyncis has an apparent magnitude of 3.14 which is how bright we see the star from Earth. Apparent Magnitude is also known as Visual Magnitude. If you used the 1997 Parallax value, you would get an absolute magnitude of -1.02 If you used the 2007 Parallax value, you would get an absolute magnitude of -0.83. 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.

Distance to Alpha Lyncis

Using the original Hipparcos data that was released in 1997, the parallax to the star was given as 14.69 which gave the calculated distance to Alpha Lyncis as 222.03 light years away from Earth or 68.07 parsecs. It would take a spaceship travelling at the speed of light, 222.03 years to get there. We don't have the technology or spaceship that can carry people over that distance yet.

In 2007, Hipparcos data was revised with a new parallax of 16.06 which put Alpha Lyncis at a distance of 203.09 light years or 62.27 parsecs. It should not be taken as though the star is moving closer or further away from us. It is purely that the distance was recalculated.

Using the 2007 distance, the star is roughly 12,844,019.99 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.

The star's Galacto-Centric Distance is 7,444.00 Parsecs or 24,279.60 Light Years. The Galacto-Centric Distance is the distance from the star to the Centre of the Galaxy which is Sagittarius A*.

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.