Markeb is a hot blue-white star in Vela, the sails of Argo, one corner of the False Cross, its name taken from an Arabic word for a ship or vehicle.
At a glance
| type | blue-white star (class B) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 572 light-years (175 pc) |
| its light left it | 572 years ago |
| luminosity | 19,300 × the Sun |
| radius | 9.57 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 22,000 K |
| constellation | Vela (Sails) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Markeb
The facts describe a young, massive star: hot enough to shine blue-white, wider than the Sun and enormously more luminous. Stars like this live fast and will not last long by stellar standards. Markeb is a spectroscopic binary, its companion revealed only by the regular shifting of lines in its spectrum.
Its name comes from the Arabic for something ridden, a vehicle or ship, apt for a star of the great ship Argo. With Avior, Aspidiske and Alsephina it makes the False Cross.
What you see in the piece
Its colour in the piece is its heat. Fly out from the Sun and Markeb parts from Alsephina, which lies far nearer, and the False Cross disappears.
Questions
How hot is Markeb?
Its surface temperature is 22,000 K, far hotter than the Sun, which is why it shines blue-white.