Saiph

6200 L ☉

Saiph (Arabic سيف, DMG saif, sword '; actually saif al - Jabbar "sword of the giants" ) is the proper name of the star κ Orionis ( Kappa Orionis ). The name refers to the fact that the Arab astronomers in Orion a giant saw, with Saiph was actually another star called (namely Eta Orionis ), the transmission error has been retained. In our view, it is the eastern Fußstern of Orion. Its Flamsteed designation is 53 Orionis. Saiph is the sechsthellste star of the constellation, but he is ( like Apparent magnitude of 2.07 ) with the second size class easily visible to the naked eye. Its distance was overestimated before the redetermination by the Hipparcos satellite, after its calculation is Saiph " only" about 722 light-years from the Sun ( this calculation but is equipped with a large margin of error ). He is a blue giant and belongs to the spectral class B0 and the luminosity class Ia on. Despite its large luminosity it appears paler than the similarly distant Rigel, because it emits most of its radiation in the invisible ultraviolet spectral range. Bolometric its brightness is 65,000 times larger than that of the sun, in the visible region corresponding to the luminosity even more than 6000 times the sun. According to current knowledge Saiph is a single star.