Star
A blue-white subgiant and the brightest star in Telescopium.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 278 ly |
| Diameter | 4,595,840 km |
| Mass | 1.03 × 10³¹ kg |
| Temperature | 16,427°C |
| Apparent magnitude | 3.51 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Discovered | 1756 |
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 4,595,840 km across, Alpha Telescopii is 3.3 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 5.2 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Alpha Telescopii tonight left it around 278 years ago.
Its surface sits at 16,700 K, hotter than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since 1756.
Play today's Cosmodle