Lesson plan
Phi Centauri
Phi Centauri is a blue-white hued star in the southern constellation Centaurus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from φ Centauri, and abbreviated Phi Cen or φ Cen. This star is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +3.7. The annual parallax shift is as measured from Earth, which yields a distance estimate of around 530 light years. It is moving further from the Sun with a radial velocity of +5 km/s. This is a B-type subgiant star with a stellar classification of B2 IV. It has no known companions, but does show radial velocity variations and higher order pulsations in the spectrum. The star is just 18 million years old with 8.5 times the mass of the Sun and has 4.2 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating around 4,000 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of about 21,638 K. This star is a proper motion member of the Upper Centaurus–Lupus sub-group in the Scorpius–Centaurus OB association, the nearest such co-moving association of massive stars to the Sun.
Article summary
Phi Centauri is a blue-white hued star in the southern constellation Centaurus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from φ Centauri, and abbreviated Phi Cen or φ Cen. This star is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +3.7. The annual parallax shift is as measured from Earth, which yields a distance estimate of around 530 light years. It is moving further from the Sun with a radial velocity of +5 km/s. This is a B-type subgiant star with a stellar classification of B2 IV. It has no known companions, but does show radial velocity variations and higher order pulsations in the spectrum. The star is just 18 million years old with 8.5 times the mass of the Sun and has 4.2 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating around 4,000 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of about 21,638 K. This star is a proper motion member of the Upper Centaurus–Lupus sub-group in the Scorpius–Centaurus OB association, the nearest such co-moving association of massive stars to the Sun.
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.