Gamma Corvi

Gamma Corvi
Location of γ Crv (circled)
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox ICRS
Constellation Corvus
Right ascension 12h 15m 48.37081s
Declination −17° 32′ 30.9496″
Apparent magnitude (V) 2.585
Characteristics
Spectral type B8 III
U−B color index −0.344
B−V color index −0.111
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)−4.2 km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −158.61 mas/yr
Dec.: +21.86 mas/yr
Parallax (π)21.23±0.20 mas
Distance154 ± 1 ly
(47.1 ± 0.4 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)−0.79
Details
γ Crv A
Mass4.2+0.4
−0.3 M☉
Radius4.086 R☉
Luminosity301±5 L☉
Surface gravity (log g)3.5 cgs
Temperature12,000 K
Rotation5.938 days
Rotational velocity (v sin i)35 km/s
Age160+40
−30 Myr
γ Crv B
Mass0.8 M☉
Other designations
γ Crv, 4 Corvi, BD−16 3424, FK5 457, HD 106625, HIP 59803, HR 4662, SAO 157176
Database references
SIMBADdata

Gamma Corvi is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Corvus. Visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 2.59, it forms the brightest star in the constellation. The system's two components are designated Gamma Corvi A and Gamma Corvi B, the later magnitude is 9.7 and it is 1.1 arcseconds away from Gamma Corvi A. The primary component has the proper name Gienah, pronounced /ˈdʒiːnə/; traditionally the name of the system. The distance to this system has been measured directly using the parallax technique, yielding an estimated 154 light-years (47 parsecs) from the Sun.

Nomenclature

γ Corvi is the system's Bayer designation, which is Latinized to Gamma Corvi and abbreviated Gamma Crv or γ Crv The designation of the components – Gamma Corvi A and B – derives from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Gamma Corvi bore the traditional name of Gienah derived from Arabic, from Ulugh Beg's الجناح الغراب اليمن al-janāħ al-ghirāb al-yaman, meaning "the right wing of the crow", although on modern charts it marks the left wing. The star Epsilon Cygni also bore this traditional name and Gamma Corvi was referred to as Gienah Corvi or Gienah Ghurab to distinguish it from this star in Cygnus.

In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name Gienah for the component Gamma Corvi A on 6 November 2016 and Aljanah for Epsilon Cygni Aa on 30 June 2017. They are both now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.

Al-janāħ al-ghirāb al-yaman or Djenah al Ghyrab al Eymen appeared in the catalog of stars in the Calendarium of Al Achsasi Al Mouakket, which was translated into Latin as Dextra ala Corvi.

In Chinese, 軫宿 (Zhěn Sù), meaning Chariot (asterism), refers to an asterism consisting of Gamma Corvi, Epsilon Corvi, Delta Corvi and Beta Corvi. Consequently, Gamma Corvi itself is known as 軫宿一 (Zhěn Sù yī, English: the First Star of Chariot).

Properties

Gamma Corvi A is a giant star with a stellar classification of B8 III and has approximately 4.2 times the mass of the Sun and 4.1 times the radius of the Sun. It has an effective temperature of 12,000 K, two times hotter than the Sun, giving it the typical blue-white hue of late B-type stars. The spectrum of this star displays an anomalously higher than normal abundance of the elements mercury and manganese, making this a Mercury-manganese star. However, there are other elements that show large over or under abundances. This chemical peculiarity in an otherwise stable stellar atmosphere is most likely caused by separation of the elements through diffusion and gravitational settling.

It has a confirmed stellar companion with a mass of about 0.8 times the Sun's, which may be orbiting at a separation of around 50 AU over a 158-year period. The photometry for Gamma Corvi B suggests a stellar classification in the range K5–M5 V.

References

  1. 1 2 Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012), "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation", Astronomy Letters, 38 (5): 331, arXiv:1108.4971, Bibcode:2012AstL...38..331A, doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015 XHIP record for this object at VizieR.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 van Leeuwen, F. (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 474 (2): 653–664, arXiv:0708.1752, Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357, S2CID 18759600.
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  4. 1 2 Houk, Nancy (1978), Michigan Catalogue of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD Stars, vol. 4, Ann Arbor: Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Bibcode:1988mcts.book.....H.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Ralph Elmer (1953), General Catalogue of Stellar Radial Velocities, Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, Bibcode:1953GCRV..C......0W.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Janson, Markus; et al. (August 2011), "High-contrast Imaging Search for Planets and Brown Dwarfs around the Most Massive Stars in the Solar Neighborhood", The Astrophysical Journal, 736 (2): 89, arXiv:1105.2577, Bibcode:2011ApJ...736...89J, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/736/2/89, S2CID 119217803.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Kochukhov, O.; et al. (August 10, 2021), "TESS survey of rotational and pulsational variability of mercury-manganese stars", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 506 (4): 5328–5344, arXiv:2107.09096, doi:10.1093/mnras/stab2107, ISSN 0035-8711.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Fremat, Y.; Houziaux, L. (April 1997), "Elemental abundances in the Hg-Mn star γ Corvi", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 320: 580–585, Bibcode:1997A&A...320..580F.
  9. 1 2 Roberts, Lewis C. Jr.; et al. (February 2007), "Adaptive Optics Photometry and Astrometry of Binary Stars. II. A Multiplicity Survey of B Stars", The Astronomical Journal, 133 (2): 545–552, Bibcode:2007AJ....133..545R, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.549.4623, doi:10.1086/510335, S2CID 10416471. {{citation}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help)
  10. ↑ "gam Crv", SIMBAD, Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg, retrieved 2010-05-02
  11. ↑ Kaler, James B. (Jim) (2004), "Gienah Corvi", Stars, University of Illinois, retrieved 18 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "WDS 12158-1733 RBR 5 (Gienah)", www.stelledoppie.it, retrieved 2024-02-01.
  13. ↑ Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006), A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub, ISBN 978-1-931559-44-7.
  14. 1 2 Naming Stars, IAU.org, archived from the original on 10 March 2025, retrieved 16 December 2017.
  15. ↑ Hessman, F. V.; et al. (2010). "On the naming convention used for multiple star systems and extrasolar planets". arXiv:1012.0707 [astro-ph.SR].
  16. ↑ Allen, Richard Hinckley (1899), Star-names and their meanings, New York: G. E. Stechert, p. 182, Bibcode:1899sntm.book.....A.
  17. ↑ IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN), International Astronomical Union, archived from the original on 2 August 2017, retrieved 22 May 2016
  18. ↑ "WG Triennial Report (2015-2018) - Star Names" (PDF). International Astronomical Union. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  19. ↑ Knobel, E. B. (June 1895), "Al Achsasi Al Mouakket, on a catalogue of stars in the Calendarium of Mohammad Al Achsasi Al Mouakket", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 55 (8): 429, Bibcode:1895MNRAS..55..429K, doi:10.1093/mnras/55.8.429.
  20. ↑ (in Chinese) 中國星座神話, written by 陳久金. Published by 台灣書房出版有限公司, 2005, ISBN 978-986-7332-25-7.
  21. ↑ (in Chinese) 香港太空館 – 研究資源 – 亮星中英對照表 Archived January 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Hong Kong Space Museum. Accessed on line November 23, 2010.
  22. ↑ "The Colour of Stars", Australia Telescope, Outreach and Education, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, December 21, 2004, archived from the original on 2012-03-18, retrieved 2012-01-16.
  23. 1 2 Adelman, S. J.; et al. (February 2006), "Elemental abundance analyses with DAO spectrograms. XXIX. The mercury-manganese stars 53 Tau, β Tau, γ Crv, and υ Her", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 447 (2): 685–690, Bibcode:2006A&A...447..685A, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20053581.