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Alpha Grucis officially
named Alnair, is the brightest star in the southern constellation
Grus (the Crane) and one of the brighter stars in the night sky,
shining at apparent magnitude 1.74. It is hard to belive that
a first magnitude star is so overlooked by observers as it is
quite high in the south here in Arizona. It is a hot, blue-white
B6 V main-sequence star located about 101 light-years from Earth.
it has a mass of roughly 4 solar masses and a luminosity around
520 times that of the Sun. Alnair rotates rapidly, with a projected
rotational velocity of approximately 215 km/s, and is relatively
young at about 100 million years.
Technical Data: 150mm
f/5.3 APO, ASI294MC Pro, SS-S30P, 20 mins, Payson, Az.
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