Alsciaukat is an orange giant in the faint northern constellation of the Lynx, a star that has left its long middle age behind and swollen as its core changed.
At a glance
| type | orange giant (class K) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 382 light-years (117 pc) |
| its light left it | 382 years ago |
| luminosity | 479 × the Sun |
| radius | 41.3 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 4,200 K |
| constellation | Lynx (Lynx) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Alsciaukat
The card shows a cool giant many times the Sun’s width and far brighter, the typical shape of a star that has used up the hydrogen at its centre. Its outer layers have expanded and cooled, which is why it glows orange.
The Lynx is a dim, straggling figure between the Great Bear and Auriga, said to need the eyes of a lynx to see at all. Alsciaukat is one of the brighter stars in it, which in this part of the sky is not saying much.
What you see in the piece
Seen from the Earth it is a modest orange point; in the piece it sits at its real distance, and the other stars of the Lynx scatter away from it in depth as soon as you leave the Sun.
Questions
What kind of star is Alsciaukat?
An orange giant (class K), about 41.3 times the Sun’s radius and 479 times its luminosity, with a surface temperature of 4,200 K.