Schedar is the orange giant at the base of the W of Cassiopeia, a swollen ageing star whose Arabic name means the breast of the seated queen.
At a glance
| type | orange giant (class K) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 228 light-years (70 pc) |
| its light left it | 228 years ago |
| luminosity | 685 × the Sun |
| radius | 32.9 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 5,150 K |
| constellation | Cassiopeia (Seated Queen) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Schedar
Schedar is a class K giant, a star that has left the main sequence, expanded to many times the Sun’s width and cooled to an orange surface. It is usually counted as the brightest star of Cassiopeia, though Cih, which varies, sometimes outshines it.
The name comes from the Arabic for the breast, describing its place in the figure of the queen seated on her throne. In the W it is the second star from the western end, the point of the first downward stroke after Caph. Its colour is easy to see with the naked eye beside the whiter stars around it. It is one of the stars listed for celestial navigation.
What you see in the piece
In the piece Schedar glows orange beside the blue-white Cih and the white Ruchbah. Fly towards Cassiopeia and the W pulls apart, since the stars of the figure lie at very different depths.
Questions
What is the brightest star in Cassiopeia?
Schedar is usually the brightest, but Cih is a variable star and at times overtakes it.
How big is Schedar?
Schedar’s radius is 32.9 times the Sun’s, and it shines 685 times as brightly.