RE: Let's Welcome HR4796 into existence!
January 2, 2012 at 9:33 pm
(This post was last modified: January 2, 2012 at 10:20 pm by Jackalope.)
(January 2, 2012 at 9:30 pm)reverendjeremiah Wrote: I was about to say, look at how red shifted it is...
It wouldn't be red-shifted - being in our relative local neighborhood.
Incidentally, for those wondering what an A0 V class star looks like up close, Vega (Alpha Lyrae) is also A0 V class and is a prototype for the class. A0 stars are ordinary main-sequence stars, ~1.4-2.1 x the mass of our sun, generally white / blue-white in color, are hot, bright and have significantly shorter lifespans than our sun. They're considered dwarf stars (like our sun), and are white, but are not white dwarfs.
Unfortunately, in the northern hemisphere, Vega is best positioned for viewing in the summer. Gamma Ursae Majoris is also a prototypical A0 V class star. It is unfortunately much more distant than Vega, thus much dimmer, despite being more luminous due to it's mass.
Added: This newborn has it's own Wikipedia page. It's twins, though not identical - it's sibling is a 0.3 solar mass red dwarf.
Unfortunately, those that want to view this infant star are going to need to be in the southern hemisphere with dark skies and good sharp eyes or a telescope or binoculars as it's near the naked-eye visibility limit (magnitude 5.8) for very dark skies.
