Beta Aurigae (Latinized from β Aurigae, abbreviated Beta Aur, β Aur), officially named Menkalinan , is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Auriga.
The combined apparent visual magnitude of the system is 1.9, making it the second-brightest member of the constellation after Capella.
Using the parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, the distance to this star system can be estimated as , give or take a half-light-year margin of error.
Nomenclature
β Aurigae is the star system's Bayer designation.
The traditional name Menkalinan is derived from the Arabic منكب ذي العنان mankib ðī-l-‘inān "shoulder of the rein-holder".
In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars.
The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Menkalinan for this star.
It is known as 五車三 (the Third Star of the Five Chariots) in traditional Chinese astronomy.
Properties
Beta Aurigae is a binary star system, but it appears as a single star in the night sky.
The two stars are metallic-lined subgiant stars belonging to the A-type stellar classification; they have roughly the same mass and radius.
A-type entities are hot stars that release a blue-white hued light; these two stars burn brighter and with more heat than the Sun, which is a G2-type main sequence star.
The pair constitute an eclipsing spectroscopic binary; the combined apparent magnitude varies over a period of 3.96 days between +1.89 and +1.94, as every 47.5 hours one of the stars partially eclipses the other from Earth's perspective.
At an angular separation of  along a position angle of 155° is a companion star that is 8.5 magnitudes fainter than the binary pair.
This is a candidate member of Beta Aurigae, which would make it a triple star system.
It may be the source of the X-ray emission from the vicinity.
The Beta Aurigae system is believed to be a stream member of the Ursa Major Moving Group.
See also
Algol
Capella
References
External links
Menkalinan
Image Beta Aurigae
CCDM J05596+4457 Catalog
Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System
Category:M-type main-sequence stars Category:A-type subgiants Category:Am stars Category:Algol variables Category:Spectroscopic binaries Category:Triple star systems Category:Ursa Major Moving Group
Menkalinan Category:Auriga (constellation) Aurigae, Beta BD+44 1328 Aurigae, 34 040183 028360 2088
