Matar is a yellow giant on the foreleg of Pegasus, its Arabic name meaning the luck of the rain, part of a binary system too tight to split by eye.
At a glance
| type | yellow giant (class G) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 214 light-years (65.7 pc) |
| its light left it | 214 years ago |
| luminosity | 272 × the Sun |
| radius | 16.4 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 5,790 K |
| constellation | Pegasus (Winged Horse) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Matar
It is a yellow giant of class G, many times the Sun’s width and far brighter. Its spectrum shows that it has a companion in a long orbit, making it a binary.
Matar is Eta Pegasi. Its name comes from the Arabic saʿd al-maṭar, “luck of the rain”. It lies north of Scheat, on one of the horse’s forelegs reaching out from the Great Square.
What you see in the piece
From Earth Matar and Scheat look close together. In the piece Scheat lies nearer, and Matar sits a little further out behind it.
Questions
What does Matar mean?
Matar comes from the Arabic saʿd al-maṭar, “luck of the rain”.