Download Merak

By: Jocelyn Miller
Type of Star: White Main Sequence
How Far Away: 62 light years away
How Bright: About 50 times brighter
than the Sun
Where to View: In the constellation
Ursa Major.
When to View:All year round in the
Northern Hemisphere
Merak is a white A1V main sequence star almost 60 times
as luminous as the sun. The spectral type implies a mass
about three times that of the sun, a diameter more than
twice that of the sun, and an effective temperature of
9600 K. According to Burnham, Merak is part of a star
cluster including at least 16 other stars from the Ursa
Major area of the sky, as well as Mizar, Alioth, Alcor,
Phecda, and Megrez in the Big Dipper. The Ursa Major
cluster represents an ellipsoidal volume of space about
30 ly long by 18 ly in width.
http://domeofthesky.com/clicks/merak.html
Ursa Major, the Greater Bear is the third largest
constellation in the sky. What is more familiar however, are
the seven stars which make up the rump and tail of this
animal. We know them as the Big Dipper, in the United
Kingdom, they are known as the Plough.
Many people mistakenly think that the Big Dipper is a
constellation but it isn't, it is something called an asterism.
An asterism is a small easily recognizable formation of stars
that is usually part of a larger constellation. In this case, the
Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major.
.
Map of the sky!
Alpha (Dubhe) and beta (this star Merak) were the Keepers, or the Pointers, at
the front of the "Dipper Bowl" in Ursa Major; a line extending through these two
will direct the observer to Polaris, the North Star.
It is one of the "The Plough", also called "the Big Dipper" stars, an asterism in
the back of the Bear, outlined by the stars; Merak (this star beta), Dubhe
(alpha),Phecda (gamma) and Megrez (delta) on the body of the Bear, along with
the three star of the tail; epsilon (Alioth), zeta (Mizar), and eta (Alkaid). The
asterism was also seen as a Dipper or Ladle with the three stars in the tail
forming the handle. In early Arabic astronomy the four plough stars on the body
of the bear constituted the coffin or bier surrounded by mourners (the three stars
in the tail) of Al Na'ash, who was murdered by Al Jadi, the pole-star (Polaris), and
this constellation was seen as a funeral procession, attributing this title to the
slow and solemn motion of the figure around the pole. The Big Dipper has been
seen by various cultures as a plough, an ox cart, a wagon, it was known as
Charlie's Wain in northern Europe. To the Hindus the four stars of the plough and
the three stars in the tail was Sapta Rishi "The seven Wise Men." These seven
stars (septentriones, from the phrase septem triones, meaning "seven plough
oxen") are the origin of the Latin word septentriones meaning "north".
http://cosmicgems.blogspot.com/2010/02/me
rak-star-that-girds-up-your-loin.html
Merak is the fifth brightest star in the Great Bear constellation,
even though Astronomer Bayer in his classification
gave the second place to the star by allotting the Greek
letter Beta. Merak is a lot like our sun just older!
A third magnitude star in brightness in the scale of at 2.3, Merak is
located in Right Ascension (Celestial Longitude) 11 hour 2 minutes
and 27 seconds and Declination (Celestial Latitude) 56 degree 19
minutes and 41 seconds.
Merak has surface temperature of 9,600 Kelvin and
is about 70 times luminous than the Sun. It is about 70 light years
away and about 3 times the size of the Sun. It is fairly a northern
star and is moving away from earth at a speed of 7.5 miles per
second. Merak is known for various features:
1. As a Pointing star:
2. As a star with a Disk: