Star
One of the brightest stars in the northern sky, and was the northern pole star around 12,000 BCE.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 25 ly |
| Diameter | 3,478,000 km |
| Mass | 4.26 × 10³⁰ kg |
| Temperature | 9,327°C |
| Rotation period | 12.5 hours |
| Apparent magnitude | 0.03 |
| 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 3,478,000 km across, Vega is 2.5 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 2.1 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Vega tonight left it around 25 years ago.
Its surface sits at 9,600 K, hotter than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since the year 150.
Play today's Cosmodle