Star
A white giant and the brightest star in Sextans, sitting almost exactly on the celestial equator.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 426 ly |
| Diameter | 7,650,000 km |
| Mass | 5.11 × 10³⁰ kg |
| Temperature | 9,711°C |
| Apparent magnitude | 4.49 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Discovered | 1687 |
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 7,650,000 km across, Alpha Sextantis is 5.5 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 2.6 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Alpha Sextantis tonight left it around 426 years ago.
Its surface sits at 9,984 K, hotter than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since 1687.
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