Beta Carinae


Beta Carinae is the second-brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina. It has the official name Miaplacidus; Beta Carinae is the star's Bayer designation, which is Latinised from β Carinae and abbreviated Beta Car or β Car. With apparent magnitude of 1.69, it is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is the brightest star in the southern asterism known as the Diamond Cross, marking the southwestern end of the asterism. It lies near the planetary nebula IC 2448. Parallax measurements place it at a distance of from the Sun.

Nomenclature

β Carinae is the star's Bayer designation.
The star's historical name Miaplacidus made its debut on star maps in 1856 when the star atlas Geography of the Heavens, composed by Elijah Hinsdale Burritt, was published. The meaning and linguistic origin of the name remained an enigma for many decades, until William Higgins, a great scholar and expert on star names, surmised that the name Miaplacidus is apparently a bilingual combination of Arabic مياه ''miyāh for 'waters' and Latin placidus for 'placid'. The IAU [Working Group on Star Names] first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Miaplacidus for this star.
In Chinese, 南船, meaning Southern Boat'', refers to an asterism consisting of β Carinae, V337 Carinae, PP Carinae, θ Carinae and ω Carinae. Consequently, β Carinae itself is known as 南船五.

Physical properties

The stellar classification of A1 III mean that Miaplacidus is an evolved giant star that has exhausted the hydrogen at its core and has expanded. It has an estimated age of 260 million years. This star does not show an excess emission of infrared radiation that might otherwise suggest the presence of a debris disk. It has about 3.8 times the Sun's mass and has expanded to almost six times the radius of the Sun. Presently it is radiating 223 times as much luminosity as the Sun from its outer envelope at an effective temperature of. Despite its enlarged girth, this star still shows a rapid rotation rate, with a projected rotational velocity of.