Mizar
Mizar or Zeta Ursae Majoris (Zet UMa) is the 4th brightest naked eye star in the constellation Ursa Major. With an apparent magnitude of 2.23, Mizar is the 70th brightest star in the entire sky (see: 50 Brightest Stars ). Its absolute magnitude is 0.33 and its distance is 78 light years.The Equinox J2000 equatorial coordinates are RA = 13h 23m 55.5s, Dec = +54° 55' 31".
Mizar has a spectral type of A1V, a surface temperature of 9000° Kelvin and a luminosity 30 times the Sun. It has a mass of 2.5 solar masses and a diameter ? times the Sun.
The image above shows the uncropped view of Mizar (North is up) through the Takahashi E-180 Astrograph.
Mizar is a quadruple system of two binary stars. With normal eyesight one can make out a faint companion just to the east, named Alcor or 80 Ursae Majoris. Alcor is of magnitude 3.99 and spectral class A5V.
Mizar and Alcor together are sometimes called the "Horse and Rider," and the ability to resolve the two stars with the naked eye is often quoted as a test of eyesight, although even people with quite poor eyesight can see the two stars. Arabic literature says that only those with the sharpest eyesight can see the companion of Mizar. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has suggested that this in fact refers to another star which lies visually between Mizar and Alcor. The name the Arabs used for Alcor means either the ‘forgotten’ or ‘neglected’ one.
As of 2007, the best estimates of Mizar and Alcor's respective distances place them 1.1 light-years apart, and though their proper motions show they move together (they are both members of the Ursa Major Moving Group). It was long believed that they did not form a true binary star system, but simply a double star. However, in 2009, it was independently reported by two groups of astronomers that Alcor actually is itself a binary, consisting of Alcor A and Alcor B, and that this binary system is most likely gravitationally bound to Mizar, bringing the full count of stars in this complex system to six. These studies also demonstrated that the Alcor binary and Mizar quadruple are somewhat closer together than previously thought: approximately 74,000 +/- 39,000 astronomical units or 0.5-1.5 light years.
The whole six-star system lies about 83 light years from Earth. The components are all members of the Ursa Major moving group, a mostly dispersed group of stars sharing a common birth, as determined by proper motion. The other stars of the Big Dipper, except Dubhe and Alkaid, belong to this group as well.
The description above is based on the Mizar entry in Wikipedia.For more information about Mizar, see Stars (Jim Kaler).
Technical Details
- Object: Mizar
- Other Names: Zeta Ursae Majoris, HR5054, HD116656, HIP65378
- Object Type: bright star
- Object Data: Apparent Magnitude = 2.23, Absolute Magnitude = 0.33, distance = 78 light years
- Object Position (Equinox J2000): RA = 13h 23m 55.5s, Dec = +54° 55' 31", Constellation = Ursa Major
- Date/Time: 2011 Apr 25 at 07:02:01 UTC
- Location: Bifrost Astronomical Observatory, Portal, AZ
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1200GTO
- Telescope: Takahashi Epsilon 180 Hyperbolic Astrograph
- Camera: Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) (modified with a Baader UV/IR filter)
- Field of View: 1.70° x 2.56° at 1.7 arc-sec/pixel (web version: 10.0 arc-sec/pixel)
- Exposure: 2 x 300s, f/2.8, ISO 800
- File Name: MizarAlcor-01w.jpg
- Processing (Adobe Camera Raw): Graduated Filter, Vignetting Correction, Noise Reduction, White Balance, Curves
- Processing (Photoshop CS5): Average Images, Curves, Noise Reduction
- Original Image Size: 3454 × 5179 pixels (17.9 MP); 11.5" x 17.3" @ 300 dpi
- Rights: Copyright 2011 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.