Lesson plan
Lambda Crucis
Lambda Crucis is a single, variable star in the southern constellation Crux, near the constellation border with Centaurus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from λ Crucis and abbreviated Lambda Cru or λ Cru. This star is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued point of light with an apparent visual magnitude that fluctuates around 4.62. The star is located approximately distant from the Sun based on parallax, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +12 km/s. It is a proper motion member of the Lower Centaurus–Crux sub-group in the Scorpius–Centaurus OB association, the nearest such association of co-moving massive stars to the Sun. for Lambda Crucis, plotted from Hipparcos data λ Crucis is listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as a possible β Cephei-type variable. Its brightness varies with an amplitude of 0 m .02 over a period of 0.3951 days. However, it is suspected to be a different type of variable, possibly a λ Eridani variable or rotating ellipsoidal variable. This object is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B4 Vne, where the suffix notation indicates "nebulous" (broad) lines due to rapid rotation, along with emission lines from circumstellar material, making it a Be star. It is around 53 million years old and is spinning rapidly with a projected rotational velocity of 341 km/s.…
Article summary
Lambda Crucis is a single, variable star in the southern constellation Crux, near the constellation border with Centaurus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from λ Crucis and abbreviated Lambda Cru or λ Cru. This star is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued point of light with an apparent visual magnitude that fluctuates around 4.62. The star is located approximately distant from the Sun based on parallax, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +12 km/s. It is a proper motion member of the Lower Centaurus–Crux sub-group in the Scorpius–Centaurus OB association, the nearest such association of co-moving massive stars to the Sun. for Lambda Crucis, plotted from Hipparcos data λ Crucis is listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as a possible β Cephei-type variable. Its brightness varies with an amplitude of 0 m .02 over a period of 0.3951 days. However, it is suspected to be a different type of variable, possibly a λ Eridani variable or rotating ellipsoidal variable. This object is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B4 Vne, where the suffix notation indicates "nebulous" (broad) lines due to rapid rotation, along with emission lines from circumstellar material, making it a Be star. It is around 53 million years old and is spinning rapidly with a projected rotational velocity of 341 km/s.…
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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?
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