Beta Columbae is a star in the Columba constellation. It also designated as Wazn, a giant star in the constellation of Columba. The Columba constellation is known as “The Dove”. It is based on the spectral type (K1.5III) of the star, the star’s color is orange to red. It is a type K orange star and it’s orbit was the location of a planetary system, including Barolia, the homeworld of the Barolian civilization.
Beta Columbae is an orange giant, the second brightest star in the constellation Columba. It has an apparent visual magnitude is 3.12, which makes it bright enough to be viewed to the naked eye, even in the urban locations of the southern sky.
It is the second brightest star in the southern constellation of Columba. Its estimated radius has been calculated as being 9.22 times bigger than the Sun. The Sun’s radius is 695,800 km, therefore the star’s radius is an estimated 6,414,826.66 km. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.1, which is bright enough to be viewed with the naked eye even from an urban location. Parallax measurements place it at a distance of about 87.2 light-years (26.7 parsecs) from the Sun. The star can be seen with the naked eye, that is, you don’t need a telescope/binoculars to see it.
Columba constellation is located in the southern sky. The spectrum of Beta Columbae matches a stellar classification of K1 IIICN+1, where the ‘III’ luminosity class indicates this is a giant star that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core and evolved away from the main sequence of stars like the Sun. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.12, this is a measure of the brightness of the star as seen from Earth. The notation ‘CN+1’ indicates a higher than normal level of cyanogen (CN) absorption in the atmosphere of the star.
The interferometry-measured angular diameter of this star, after correcting for limb darkening, is 3.99 ± 0.05 mas, which, at its estimated distance, equates to a physical radius of about 11.5 times the radius of the Sun. The rotation velocity is unknown, there is no X-ray emission, and there are no known companions. Despite having expanded to this radius, Beta Columbae only has about a 10% greater mass than the Sun. The outer envelope of this star is radiating energy at an effective temperature of 4,545 K, resulting in an orange hue that is typical of a cool, K-type star.
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