Star
A yellow supergiant that dominates the Perseus moving cluster.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 510 ly |
| Diameter | 94,615,200 km |
| Mass | 1.69 × 10³¹ kg |
| Temperature | 6,077°C |
| Apparent magnitude | 1.82 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Northern |
| Discovered | 150 |
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 94,615,200 km across, Mirfak is 68 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 8.5 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Mirfak tonight left it around 510 years ago.
Its surface sits at 6,350 K, hotter than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since the year 150.
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