Monday, February 13, 2012

How big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?

The north pole star Polaris, how big is it in size as compared to the sun? Please can you provide some head to head comparison like how many suns would fit in a Polaris etc.?How big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?Polaris is a Cepheid star, which means it can change in size.



It was measured in 2000 and found to be 46 times larger than the Sun.



See the news story on the attached link.How big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?
Polaris is an evolved class F (F7) yellow supergiant 2500 times more luminous than our Sun with a temperature of about 6000 Kelvin, which leads to a radius 45 times that of the Sun.How big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?It is very bigHow big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?
Polaris is an F type star. A white super giant about 700 ly away and is about 100 times the size of Sol.How big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?It is said that the Polaris is 46 times bigger than the sun. But Polaris is a cepheid star . Cepheids are special stars that get bigger for a while and then shrink.How big is the pole star Polaris as compared to the sun?
Polaris is a F8Ib super giant star that is also a Cepheid variable star, whose surface temperature, size and brightness vary in a regular cycle whose period is directly linked to it's brightness. For Polaris, that period is just under 4 days. Polaris is also a triple star system. The primary star has some 5 or 6 times the Sun's mass, and a diameter at least 30 times greater than the Sun. That means thousands of Sun like stars would fit into it's volume. It's luminosity is 2,200 Suns, with an maximum surface temperature of 7,200 Kelvin compared to our Sun's 6,000K. It lies 430 light years away, with it's companion stars orbiting an average of 224 billion and 1.7 billion miles away from it. This star has exhausted it's supply of hydrogen in the core, and now is fusing heavier elements for energy. As it does so, it pulsates in size and brightness. Eventually, it's core will run out of fuel and the star will cast off the outer layers to form a planetary nebula while the core becomes a massive white dwarf. It's not massive enough to explode as a core collapse supernova, but it may become a type 1A supernova when it's closer companion expands into a red giant and starts feeding hydrogen to the white dwarf that will remain of Polaris.

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