Facts about Altair
- 08
Altair's stellar wind carries away approximately 1.5 times more mass per year than our Sun's solar wind, contributing to its gradual evolution toward becoming a white dwarf.
- 07
Altair's rapid 8.9-hour rotation causes it to be 22 percent wider at its equator than at its poles, making it one of the most oblate stars observable from Earth.
- 06
About 1.86 times the mass of our Sun, Altair belongs to spectral class A7V and will eventually exhaust its hydrogen fuel and expand into a white dwarf.
- 05
In 1718, Edmond Halley identified Altair's motion across the sky, making it one of the first stars proven to have measurable proper motion relative to the Sun.
- 04
Approximately 11 times more luminous than our Sun, Altair shines with an absolute magnitude of 2.2, making it significantly brighter than most stars despite its relatively close proximity to Earth.
- 03
Altair's surface temperature of approximately 7,550 Kelvin makes it significantly hotter than our Sun, placing it among the hottest naked-eye visible stars in Earth's night sky.
- 02
At approximately 16.8 light-years from Earth, Altair is one of the nearest bright stars visible to the naked eye and forms the Summer Triangle asterism with Deneb and Vega.
- 01
The brightest star in Aquila, Altair rotates so rapidly that it completes one full rotation in just 8.9 hours, causing significant equatorial bulging.