Beta Andromedae
Sign in to saveAlso known as Mirach, 43 Andromedae, HD 6860, 43 And, β And, β Andromedae, GJ 53.3, GJ 9044
Mirach is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is pronounced and has the Bayer designation Beta Andromedae, which is Latinized from β Andromedae. This star is positioned northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of latitude 54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy NGC 404, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach.
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Properties
- Nomenclature
- Substellar companion
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Mirach is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is pronounced and has the Bayer designation Beta Andromedae, which is Latinized from β Andromedae. This star is positioned northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of latitude 54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy NGC 404, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach.
This star has an apparent visual magnitude of around 2.07, varying between 2.01 and 2.10, which at times makes it the brightest star in the constellation. Based upon parallax measurements, it is roughly from the Solar System. Its apparent magnitude is reduced by 0.06 by extinction due to gas and dust along the line of sight. The star has a negligible radial velocity of 0.1 km/s, but with a relatively large proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at an angular rate of ·yr−1.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Beta Andromedae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.