Chamukuy is a white star of the Hyades in Taurus, the brighter of a pair that the eye can split, named from the Maya language for a small bird.
At a glance
| type | white star (class A) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 150 light-years (46.1 pc) |
| its light left it | 150 years ago |
| luminosity | 84.8 × the Sun |
| radius | 4.98 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 7,850 K |
| constellation | Taurus (Bull) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Chamukuy
Chamukuy is a hot white star, larger and much brighter than the Sun, still burning hydrogen in its core. It is the brightest member of the Hyades, the cluster that draws the V of the Bull’s face, and it forms a wide pair with a fainter neighbour, Theta¹ Tauri, close enough together on the sky that sharp eyes see two points.
The two stars of the pair are both Hyades members but not bound to each other. Chamukuy is itself a close binary, known from the shifting lines in its spectrum. Its name was adopted from Yucatec Maya, one of the recent additions drawn from traditions beyond the Arabic and Greek.
What you see in the piece
Chamukuy sits near Aldebaran in the sky, but in the piece Aldebaran lies far nearer the Sun; fly into the Hyades and Chamukuy stays among its cluster siblings while the bright orange eye drifts away.
Questions
Where does the name Chamukuy come from?
Chamukuy comes from Yucatec Maya, where it is the name of a small bird.
How far away is Chamukuy?
Chamukuy is 150 light-years (46.1 pc) from the Sun, in the Hyades cluster.