Lesson plan
C3 Centauri
C 3 Centauri is a suspected astrometric binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It has an orange hue and is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.46. The distance to this object is approximately 342 light years based on parallax. It is a member of the Hyades Stream of co-moving stars. The visible component of this system is an aging giant star with a stellar classification of K2 III, which indicates it has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core then cooled and expanded off the main sequence. At present it has 2.16 times the Sun's mass and with nearly sixteen times the girth of the Sun. It is radiating 96 times the luminosity of the Sun from its swollen photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,535 K.
Article summary
C 3 Centauri is a suspected astrometric binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It has an orange hue and is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.46. The distance to this object is approximately 342 light years based on parallax. It is a member of the Hyades Stream of co-moving stars. The visible component of this system is an aging giant star with a stellar classification of K2 III, which indicates it has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core then cooled and expanded off the main sequence. At present it has 2.16 times the Sun's mass and with nearly sixteen times the girth of the Sun. It is radiating 96 times the luminosity of the Sun from its swollen photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,535 K.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.