Beta Canum Venaticorum

1:20 L ☉

Asterion is a yellow dwarf main sequence and the name of the star β Canum Venaticorum (Beta Canum Venaticorum ). It is characterized by an apparent brightness of 4.26 like the second brightest star in the constellation of hunting dogs. At a distance of about 27 light-years it is a relatively close to the Sun Star. Together with the brighter star Cor Caroli it forms the constellation hunting dogs.

Another name for Asterion is Chara, the Greek word for joy. This name originally referred to the " southern dog " of the constellation, but later referred to only the star β Canum Venaticorum.

Properties and compared to the Sun

Asterion is very similar to the sun. He's a single star of spectral type G. Its surface temperature is 5860 Kelvin, which is only 80 Kelvin longer than in the sun. Also with respect to the mass, the development stage, age and the speed of rotation around the center of the galaxy Asterion the sun is very similar. He has a larger radius by about four percent and is about one to two billion years older. Asterion has, also as the sun, a hot corona atmosphere and has a similar rotation speed.

Asterion is considered to be metal-poor, ie, with a low proportion of elements heavier than helium. It has only about 60 percent as much iron as the Sun. The luminosity of Asterion is about 25 percent higher than that of the sun. The metal content and luminosity are the main differences in comparison to the sun.

Earlier speculation that Asterion is a spectroscopic binary star, could not be confirmed by more recent observations. Even a search for a brown dwarf, which could possibly walk around the primary star, remained inconclusive.

Possible life

In 2006, the astronomer Margaret Turnbull listed the star Asterion as a top candidate for the search for extraterrestrial life. Astrobiologists arranged it because of its great similarity to the sun under the astrological biologically interesting stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun.