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Beta Andromedae
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Beta Andromedae

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Also known as Mirach, 43 Andromedae, HD 6860, 43 And, β And, β Andromedae, GJ 53.3, GJ 9044

Mirach is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is pronounced and has the Bayer designation Beta Andromedae, which is Latinized from β Andromedae. This star is positioned northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of latitude 54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy NGC 404, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach.

Wikidata facts

Instance of
red giant
Constellation
Andromeda
Distance from Earth
60.45
Radius
86.4
Mass
3
Variable-star type
semiregular variable star
Show 17 more facts
spectral class
M1
catalog code
AP J01094391+3537137
stellar rotational velocity
7.2
surface gravity
30
apparent magnitude
-1.87
parallax
16.52
absolute magnitude
-1.87
luminosity
1995
right ascension
17.433016173
declination
35.620557651
effective temperature
3931
radial velocity
0.608782
epoch
J2000.0
metallicity
0
Commons category
Beta Andromedae
declination component of proper motion
-110
right ascension component of proper motion
175
Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Properties
  • Nomenclature
  • Substellar companion
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Mirach is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is pronounced and has the Bayer designation Beta Andromedae, which is Latinized from β Andromedae. This star is positioned northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of latitude 54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy NGC 404, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach.

This star has an apparent visual magnitude of around 2.07, varying between 2.01 and 2.10, which at times makes it the brightest star in the constellation. Based upon parallax measurements, it is roughly from the Solar System. Its apparent magnitude is reduced by 0.06 by extinction due to gas and dust along the line of sight. The star has a negligible radial velocity of 0.1 km/s, but with a relatively large proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at an angular rate of ·yr−1.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Beta Andromedae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)