Surface temperature 4,620 K Radius 4.524 million km (6.5 R☉) Constellation Crater | Mass 4.972 × 10^30 kg (2.5 M☉) Magnitude 4.07 Apparent magnitude (V) 4.07 | |
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Similar Delta Corvi, Beta Crateris, Gamma Corvi, Alpha Columbae, Mu Geminorum | ||
Alpha Crateris (α Crateris, abbreviated Alpha Crt, α Crt), also named Alkes, is a star in the constellation of Crater.
Contents
Nomenclature
α Crateris (Latinised to Alpha Crateris) is the star's Bayer designation.
It bore the traditional name Alkes, from the Arabic الكاس alkās or الكأس alka's "the cup". In the catalogue of stars in the Calendarium of Al Achsasi al Mouakket, this star was designated Aoul al Batjna (أول ألبجن awwil albajna), which was translated into Latin as Prima Crateris, meaning "the first cup". In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name Alkes for this star on 12 September 2016 and it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.
In Chinese, 翼宿 (Yì Sù), meaning Wings (asterism), refers to an asterism consisting of Alpha Crateris, Gamma Crateris, Zeta Crateris, Lambda Crateris, Nu Hydrae, Eta Crateris, Delta Crateris, Iota Crateris, Kappa Crateris, Epsilon Crateris, HD 95808, HD 93833, Theta Crateris, HD 102574, HD 100219, Beta Crateris, HD 99922, HD 100307, HD 96819, Chi1 Hydrae, HD 102620 and HD 103462. Consequently, Alpha Crateris itself is known as 翼宿一 (Yì Sù yī, English: the First Star of Wings.).
Namesake
USS Alkes (AK-110) was a United States Navy Crater class cargo ship named after the star.
Properties
Alpha Crateris is an orange giant of spectral type K1III. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.07, and is 174 light years from Earth. It is estimated to be around 1.61 times as massive and 69 times as luminous as the Sun and is around 3.45 billion years old. Its surface temperature is 4645 K. Its radius is around 12-13 times that of the Sun.