Lesson plan
Psi Centauri
Psi Centauri is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from ψ Centauri, and abbreviated Psi Cen or ψ Cen. This system is visible to the naked eye as a point of light with a baseline apparent visual magnitude of +4.05. The distance to this system is 250 light years based on parallax. The radial velocity is poorly constrained, but it appears to be slowly drifting away from the Sun at the rate of +2 km/s. for Psi Centauri, plotted from data published by Bruntt et al. (2006) This is a detached eclipsing binary system with the secondary eclipse being total. The pair are orbiting each other with a period of 38.81 days and an eccentricity of 0.55. The brightness of the system dips by 0.28 and 0.16 magnitude during the two eclipses per orbit. The system displays an infrared excess at a wavelength of 60 μm, indicating the presence of a circumstellar debris disk with a temperature of 120 K, orbiting at a distance of 64 AU. The pair have a combined stellar classification of A0 IV, matching a white-hued A-type subgiant. The two components appear to be at different evolutionary stages. Both have high rotation rates, with projected rotational velocities over 120 km/s. The primary has 3.814 times the Sun's radius while the secondary is 1.896 times.…
Article summary
Psi Centauri is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from ψ Centauri, and abbreviated Psi Cen or ψ Cen. This system is visible to the naked eye as a point of light with a baseline apparent visual magnitude of +4.05. The distance to this system is 250 light years based on parallax. The radial velocity is poorly constrained, but it appears to be slowly drifting away from the Sun at the rate of +2 km/s. for Psi Centauri, plotted from data published by Bruntt et al. (2006) This is a detached eclipsing binary system with the secondary eclipse being total. The pair are orbiting each other with a period of 38.81 days and an eccentricity of 0.55. The brightness of the system dips by 0.28 and 0.16 magnitude during the two eclipses per orbit. The system displays an infrared excess at a wavelength of 60 μm, indicating the presence of a circumstellar debris disk with a temperature of 120 K, orbiting at a distance of 64 AU. The pair have a combined stellar classification of A0 IV, matching a white-hued A-type subgiant. The two components appear to be at different evolutionary stages. Both have high rotation rates, with projected rotational velocities over 120 km/s. The primary has 3.814 times the Sun's radius while the secondary is 1.896 times.…
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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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