Star
A white subgiant and the brightest star in the small southern constellation Chamaeleon.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 63.5 ly |
| Diameter | 2,938,550 km |
| Mass | 2.82 × 10³⁰ kg |
| Temperature | 6,307°C |
| Apparent magnitude | 4.06 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Discovered | 1597 |
Stars spend most of their lives fusing hydrogen into helium in their core, and it's the balance between that outward pressure and gravity pulling inward that fixes how big and how bright a star gets.
At 2,938,550 km across, Alpha Chamaeleontis is 2.1 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 1.4 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Alpha Chamaeleontis tonight left it around 64 years ago.
Its surface sits at 6,580 K, hotter than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since 1597.
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