Rho Puppis
Prototype of the Rho Puppis class of evolved Am stars.
Rho Puppis is a star in the southern constellation of Puppis, with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.7 or 2.8, making it the third-brightest member of this generally faint constellation. It is located at a distance of 63.5 light-years from the Sun and serves as the prototype of the Rho Puppis class of evolved Am stars.
Quick Facts
- Apparent visual magnitude
- 2.7 or 2.8
- Distance from sun
- 63.5 ly
- Radial velocity
- +46.1 km/s
- Spectral type
- F5IIkF2IImF5II
- Radius
- 3.52 times the Sun's radius
- Age
- about 2 billion years
- Metallicity
- more than double that in the Sun
Facts from the source article.
Nomenclature
The Bayer designation for this star is ρ Puppis, Latinised to Rho Puppis. It bore the traditional name Tureis or Turais, from the Arabic تُرَيْس turays meaning 'shield' (diminutive), which was shared by Iota Carinae. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Star Names approved the name Tureis for this star on 12 September 2016, and it is now entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.
Properties
Rho Puppis is currently moving away from our solar system at a speed of 46.1 kilometers per second. Its closest pass to the Sun happened roughly 394,000 years ago, when it came within about 11.6 light-years—comparable to the present-day distance of Procyon. The star’s variability was first reported in 1956 by American astronomer Olin J. Eggen, and it was identified as a Delta Scuti-type variable, making it one of the earliest known examples of this class. Observations stretching back to 1946 have given astronomers a long record of its pulsations, which follow a single, steady cycle lasting 0.14088143 days—about 7.1 cycles per day. Each cycle changes the star’s brightness by an amplitude of 0.15 magnitude and shifts its radial velocity by 10 kilometers per second. The star reaches peak brightness 28.8 minutes after its radial velocity hits its lowest point. With an effective temperature of 6,650 Kelvin in its outer atmosphere, Rho Puppis has one of the coolest known surfaces among Delta Scuti variables. In 2017, a magnetic field was detected around it, making it only the second Delta Scuti star known to host such a field, after HD 188774. The star is estimated to be about 2 billion years old and has a radius 3.52 times that of the Sun. Its stellar classification is F5IIkF2IImF5II, a complex notation that marks it as an Am star—meaning it shows unusually weak calcium lines and strong lines of other metals. The calcium K line suggests a spectral type of F5, while the heavier metal absorption lines point to F2. The Roman numerals indicate it is a bright giant. Most stars with these characteristics are found in binary systems, but no companion has been found for Rho Puppis. Evolved stars with similar abundance peculiarities are now called Rho Puppis stars. The star’s metallicity is more than double that of the Sun. It also emits excess infrared radiation, which points to a circumstellar disk of dust orbiting at an average temperature of 85 Kelvin, corresponding to a distance of about 50 astronomical units from the star.
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