Mimosa (star)
Mimosa is the second brightest object in the southern constellation of Crux after Acrux, and the 21st brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation β Crucis, which is Beta Crucis in Latin. Its name when shortened is Beta Cru or β Cru. Mimosa is part of the prominent asterism called the Southern Cross. It is a binary star or a possible triple star system. It is also one of the closest stars with a infrared bow shock.
Based on parallax measurements, Mimosa is 277 light years from Earth. In 1957, German astronomor Wulff-Dieter Heintz discovered that it is a spectroscopic binary with components that are too close together to resolve with a telescope.[1] The pair orbit each other every five years with a guessed separation that changes from 5.4 to 12.0 AU.[2] The age of the system is only 8 to 11 million years.[3]
Mimosa (star) Media
The constellation Crux
A light curve for Beta Crucis, plotted from TESS data
References
- ↑ Heintz, W. D.. The radial velocity variation of beta Crucis. The Observatory 77 (1957-10-01). p. 200.
- ↑ Aerts, C.. Evidence for binarity and multiperiodicity in the beta Cephei star beta Crucis. Astronomy and Astrophysics 329 (1998-01-01). p. 137–146.
- ↑ Cohen, David H.. Chandra spectroscopy of the hot star beta Crucis and the discovery of a pre-main-sequence companion. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 386 (4) (June 2008). p. 1855–1871. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13176.x.