Alpha Lyncis - HD80493 - HIP45860

Alpha Lyncis is a red giant star that can be located in the constellation of Lynx. Alpha Lyncis is the Bayer Classification for the star. 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. Alpha Lyncis has alternative name(s), 40 Lyncis , 40 Lyn.

Location of Alpha Lyncis

The location of the star in the galaxy 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 star is compared to the celestial equator and is expressed in degrees. For Alpha Lyncis, the location is 09h 21m 03.46 and +34d23`33.1 .

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 015.18 ± 000.14 towards the north and -223.63 ± 000.17 east if we saw them in the horizon.

Physical Properties (Colour, Temperature, Radius) of Alpha Lyncis

Alpha Lyncis has a spectral type of M0IIIvar. This means the star is a red giant star. 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 has been calculated as 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.

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.

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 Stellar Age, Metallicity or Mass is from the E.U. Exoplanets. The information was obtained as of 12th Feb 2017.