T Persei facts for kids
T Persei is a fascinating red supergiant star. You can find it in the night sky within the Perseus constellation. This star is truly enormous and shines with a reddish glow.
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What is T Persei?
T Persei is a type of star called a red supergiant. These stars are among the biggest and brightest in the universe. They are much larger than our Sun. Red supergiants are stars that are nearing the end of their lives. They have used up most of their fuel.
How Big and Bright is T Persei?
T Persei is incredibly large. Its radius is about 510 times bigger than our Sun! Imagine how huge that is. If T Persei were in the center of our solar system, it would stretch past the orbit of Mars.
This star is also very bright. It shines with the power of about 45,700 Suns! Even though it is so bright, it looks dim from Earth. This is because it is very far away.
Where Can You Find T Persei?
T Persei is located in the constellation of Perseus. Perseus is named after a hero from ancient Greek myths. You can see this constellation in the northern sky. It looks like a person holding a sword. T Persei is just one of many stars that make up this famous constellation.
Is T Persei Always the Same?
No, T Persei is a variable star. This means its brightness changes over time. It is a type of semiregular variable star. Its brightness goes up and down in a somewhat predictable way. From Earth, its brightness can change between 8.34 and 9.70 magnitude. This change is too small for you to notice without special equipment.
How Far Away is T Persei?
T Persei is very, very far from Earth. It is about 2,345 parsecs away. To give you an idea, one parsec is about 3.26 light-years. So, T Persei is thousands of light-years away! This means the light we see from T Persei today left the star thousands of years ago.
| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 |
|
|---|---|
| Constellation | Perseus |
| Right ascension | 2h 19m 21.87884s |
| Declination | +58° 57′ 40.3271″ |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 8.34-9.70 |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | M2Iab |
| U−B color index | +2.62 |
| B−V color index | +2.33 |
| Variable type | SRc |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | −40.85 km/s |
| Proper motion (μ) | RA: 0.31 mas/yr Dec.: −2.42 mas/yr |
| Parallax (π) | 2.15 ± 1.24 mas |
| Distance | 2,345±55 pc |
| Absolute magnitude (MV) | −6.90±0.07 |
| Details | |
| Mass | 9-12 M☉ |
| Radius | 510±20 R☉ |
| Luminosity | 45,700+4,400 −4,000 L☉ |
| Surface gravity (log g) | 0.06±0.05 cgs |
| Temperature | 3750±60 K |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | −0.35 dex |
| Other designations | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
