Beta Librae

Also known as 27 Librae, Zubeneschamali, Kiffa Borealis, HD 135742, HR 5685, HIC 74785, HIP 74785, β Librae

star in the zodiac constellation of Libra

Key facts

Constellation: Libra
Right ascension: 15 17 00.41382
Declination: −09 ° 22 ′ 58.4919 ″
Evolutionary stage: Main sequence
Spectral type: B8 V
U b color index: −0.359
B v color index: −0.106
Variable type: Suspected

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Radius: 1.2

Show 13 more facts

catalog code: UBV M 20667

~4 min read

Article

Beta Librae is the brightest star in the zodiac constellation of Libra. It has the proper name Zubeneschamali /zuːˌbɛnɛʃəˈmeɪli/, Beta Librae is its Bayer designation. From parallax measurements taken by the Hipparcos mission, its distance is measured to be 185 light-years (57 parsecs).

The apparent visual magnitude of this star is 2.6. According to Eratosthenes, Beta Librae was observed to be brighter than Antares. Ptolemy, 350 years later, said it was as bright as Antares. The discrepancy may be due to Antares becoming brighter, but this is not known for certain. It could simply be caused by Beta Librae being a variable star, showing a present-day variability of 0.03 of a magnitude.