Alpha Camelopardalis
 Location of α Camelopardalis (circled) |
|
| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS) |
|
|---|---|
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Right ascension | 04h 54m 03.01040s |
| Declination | +66° 20′ 33.6365″ |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 4.29 |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | O9Ia |
| U−B color index | −0.87 |
| B−V color index | +0.05 |
| R−I color index | 0.00 |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | +6.1 km/s |
| Proper motion (μ) |
RA: –0.13 mas/yr Dec.: +6.89 mas/yr |
| Parallax (π) | 0.52 ± 0.19mas |
| Distance | approx. 6,000 ly (approx. 1,900 pc) |
| Absolute magnitude (MV) | –7.1 |
| Details | |
| Mass | 30.9 M☉ |
| Radius | 29 R☉ |
| Luminosity | 620,000 L☉ |
| Surface gravity (log g) | 3.00 cgs |
| Temperature | 30,000 K |
| Rotational velocity (v sin i) | 80 km/s |
| Age | ~2 million years |
| Other designations | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
Alpha Camelopardalis (Alpha Cam, α Camelopardalis, α Cam) is a star in the constellation Camelopardalis, with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.3. It is the third-brightest star in this not-very-prominent circumpolar constellation, the first and second-brightest stars being β Camelopardalis and CS Camelopardalis, respectively. It is the farthest constellational star, with a distance of 6,000 light-years from Earth.
This star has a stellar classification of O9 Ia, with the 'Ia' indicating that it is an O-type luminous supergiant. It is a massive star with 31 times the mass of the Sun and 37 times the Sun's radius. The effective temperature of the outer envelope is 30,000 K; much hotter than the Sun's effective temperature of 5,778 K, giving it the characteristic blue hue of an O-type star. It is emitting 620,000 times the luminosity of the Sun and is a weak X-ray emitter.
This star shows multiple patterns of variability. It may be a non-radial pulsating variable star, which is causing changes in the spectrum being emitted by the photosphere. The absorption lines in the optical spectrum show radial velocity variations, although there is significant uncertainty about the period. Estimates range from a period as low as 0.36 days up to 2.93 days. The stellar wind from this star is not smooth and continuous, but instead shows a behavior indicating clumping at both large and small scales. This star is losing mass rapidly through its stellar wind at a rate of approximately 6.3 × 10−6solar masses per year, or the equivalent of the mass of the Sun every 160,000 years.
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