Facts about Achernar
- 10
Only 7.3 million kilometers separate Achernar from its suspected companion star, positioning them close enough that material may be transferring between the two bodies.
- 09
Achernar's extreme oblate shape causes its equatorial region to be approximately 2,000 Kelvin cooler than its polar regions, creating significant temperature variations across the star's surface.
- 08
Spectroscopic analysis reveals Achernar has a projected rotational velocity of 225 kilometers per second, the highest among all bright naked-eye stars in the night sky.
- 07
Binary star system observations suggest Achernar may have a close companion star, though its identity and characteristics remain uncertain due to the primary star's overwhelming brightness.
- 06
Achernar's surface temperature reaches approximately 10,000 Kelvin, making it significantly hotter than our Sun's 5,778 Kelvin photosphere.
- 05
An extremely oblate spheroid shape caused by Achernar's rapid rotation gives its equatorial diameter roughly 56 percent larger than its polar diameter.
- 04
About 380 times more luminous than the Sun, Achernar's extreme brightness makes it visible despite being nearly 140 light-years away in the southern sky.
- 03
At approximately 1.46 solar masses, Achernar is a blue-white B-type main sequence star significantly more massive and luminous than our Sun.
- 02
The ninth-brightest star in Earth's night sky, Achernar lies approximately 139 light-years away in the southern constellation Eridanus.
- 01
Rotating at 225 kilometers per second, Achernar is the fastest-spinning bright star visible from Earth, causing extreme equatorial bulging.