Menkib is a hot blue star racing through Perseus, a massive runaway whose ultraviolet light makes the California Nebula glow red beside it.
At a glance
| type | blue star (class O) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 1,240 light-years (382 pc) |
| its light left it | 1,240 years ago |
| luminosity | 91,800 × the Sun |
| radius | 7.81 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 36,000 K |
| constellation | Perseus (Hero) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Menkib
Menkib is one of the hottest stars visible to the naked eye, a massive blue star whose surface pours out ultraviolet light. That radiation strips electrons from the hydrogen of a nearby cloud, and the cloud glows red as they recombine: the California Nebula, NGC 1499, named for its outline, is lit by Menkib.
The star moves unusually fast through space, a runaway thought to have been flung out of the group of young stars in which it formed. The name comes from the Arabic for the shoulder.
What you see in the piece
In the piece Menkib is a vivid blue point, its colour set by its very hot surface. Switch to the gas band and the nebula it lights shows up around it.
Measured or modelled
How Menkib was ejected, by a supernova in a companion or by close encounters in a crowded young group, is not settled.
Questions
What star lights the California Nebula?
Menkib, Xi Persei, a hot blue star whose ultraviolet light makes the hydrogen of the nebula glow.
How hot is Menkib?
Menkib’s surface temperature is 36,000 K, and it shines 91,800 times as brightly as the Sun.