Re: OR Del Valle 4/5/05

From: Mark Wagner ^lt;mark.wagner_at_No-Spam>
Date: Wed Apr 20 2005 - 10:42:24 MST

David Kingsley wrote:

>Burnham lists Tau CMa with an absolute visual magnitude of -7 and an
>actual luminosity of about fifty thousand suns.

Yes...

>That's pretty bright, but for comparison he lists S Dorado, the brightest
>star in the Large Magellanic Cloud as one "the most luminous stars known
>anywhere in the Universe"

I hadn't read that before. I looked for it in the section about NGC 2362,
which is what Tau CMa is thought to be a member of, but didn't find the
comparison there.

I wonder if Tau CMa is the brightest absolute magnitude star visible from
the northern hemisphere... whether it is or not, the sight of that bright
star dead center in a nice young open cluster is always great.

Mark
Received on Wed Apr 20 10:43:11 2005


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