astronomy

Kappa Persei

Kappa Persei is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kappa Persei rather than just read about it. In short: Kappa Persei or κ Persei, is a triple star system in the northern constellation of Perseus. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 28.93 mas, it is located at a distance of 113 light-years from the Sun.

Key takeaways

Kappa Persei belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kappa Persei to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kappa Persei from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kappa Persei or κ Persei, is a triple star system in the northern constellation of Perseus. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 28.93 mas, it is located at a distance of 113 light-years from the Sun. The system consists of a spectroscopic binary, designated Kappa Persei A, which can be seen with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 3.80. The third star, designated Kappa Persei B, is of magnitude 13.50. Kappa Persei A's two components are designated Kappa Persei Aa (officially named Misam , the traditional name of the entire system) and Ab.

Nomenclature κ Persei (Latinised to Kappa Persei) is the system's Bayer designation. The designations of the two constituents as Kappa Persei A and B, and those of A's components - Kappa Persei Aa and Ab - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The traditional name comes from the Arabic مِعْصَم miʽṣam 'wrist'. In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name Misam for the component Kappa Persei Aa on 5 September 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. In Chinese, 大陵 (Dà Líng), meaning Mausoleum, refers to an asterism consisting of Kappa Persei, 9 Persei, Tau Persei, Iota Persei, Beta Persei (Algol), Rho Persei, 16 Persei and 12 Persei. Consequently, the Chinese name for Kappa Persei itself is 大陵四 (Dà Líng sì, English: the Fourth Star of Mausoleum.).

Properties At its distance, the visual magnitude of Kappa Persei is diminished by an extinction factor of 0.06 due to interstellar dust. It has a relatively high proper motion totaling 0.230 arcseconds per year. There is a 76.3% chance that it is a member of the Hyades-Pleiades stream of stars that share a common motion through space. With an estimated age of 4.58 billion years, Kappa Persei Aa is an evolved G-type giant star with a stellar classification of G9.5 IIIb. It is a red clump giant, which means that it is generating energy at its core through the nuclear fusion of helium. The star has about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun and 9 times the Sun's radius. It radiates 40 times the solar luminosity from its outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of 4,857 K. Kappa Persei B is at an angular separation of 44.10 arc seconds along a position angle of 319°, as of 2009.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kappa Persei

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kappa Persei claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kappa Persei before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kappa Persei ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kappa Persei

In research: Kappa Persei appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kappa Persei in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kappa Persei is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bayer objects, Bright Star Catalogue objects, Durchmusterung objects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kappa Persei outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kappa Persei in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kappa Persei means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kappa Persei out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kappa Persei in simple terms?

Why does Kappa Persei matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kappa Persei?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kappa Persei.