Tiaki is the red star of Grus, the crane, a huge cool star that varies in brightness and glows in clear contrast to blue-white Alnair beside it.
At a glance
| type | red giant (class M) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 177 light-years (54.3 pc) |
| its light left it | 177 years ago |
| luminosity | 3,480 × the Sun |
| radius | 211 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 3,050 K |
| constellation | Grus (Crane) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Tiaki
The card calls it a red supergiant of class M: its surface is barely warm enough to glow red, but it is so vast, wider than the orbit of Mercury, that it far outshines the Sun. Its brightness wanders irregularly, as is common for stars this swollen and cool.
It is Beta Gruis. Its name comes from Polynesian star lore and was formally adopted by the IAU in recent years, part of an effort to bring names from traditions beyond Greek, Latin and Arabic into the official list.
What you see in the piece
Its colour in the piece is its temperature, a deep red beside the blue-white of Alnair. Switch to infrared and Tiaki becomes one of the brightest points in the region.
Questions
Why is Tiaki red?
Tiaki is red because its surface is cool, around 3,050 K, much cooler than the Sun. It is a swollen star near the end of its life.