ASMIDISKE (Xi Puppis)
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| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Location | Varese, Italy |
| Introduction | Asmidiske is a magnificent, rather rare, kind of supergiant of sunlike color. Originally classed as a "warm G" (G3) lesser supergiant, it is now considered a cooler G (G6, temperature 4990 Kelvin) brighter supergiant. The star is so far away that its distance is uncertain, but it lies in the neighborhood of 1350 light years, making it 8300 times more luminous than the Sun. Asmidiske is rather rapidly evolving, though it is not possible to tell just how. It may be a 10 solar mass star with a dead helium core that is growing and cooling a its surface to become a red supergiant, or it may be an 8 solar mass core-helium burner that has already been a red supergiant and is "looping back" to higher temperatures. Even then, we cannot tell whether it is in a (surface) warming or cooling phase. There is also some evidence that Asmidiske is accompanied by a close-in companion that lies about 2 Astronomical Units away and orbits with a period of a year. From Asmidiske proper, the sunlike companion would be about as bright as a gibbous Moon, while from the sunlike companion, Asmidiske would shine with the light of 1000 full moons. |