Mizar

Mizar (ζ UMa / ζ Ursae Majoris / Zeta Ursae Majoris) is a star in the constellation Ursa Major, lying just at the corner of the Big Dipper's handle. The name comes from the Arabic ميزر mīzar, meaning a waistband or girdle. Mizar has apparent magnitude 2.40 and spectral class A1 V.

Related Topics:
Star - Constellation - Ursa Major - Arabic - Apparent magnitude - Spectral class

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With good eyesight one can make out a faint companion just to the east, called Alcor or 80 Ursae Majoris. The two are often called the horse and rider, and the ability to see the second is a traditional test of eyesight. Alcor has magnitude 3.99 and spectral class A5 V. The two stars lie more than a quarter of a light year apart and although proper motions show they move together, it is still not known whether they form a true binary star system, and not an optical binary as currently thought.

Related Topics:
Light year - Proper motion - Binary star - Optical binary

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More components were discovered with the advents of the telescope and spectroscopy. Mizar was the first telescopic binary discovered, most probably by Benedetto Castelli who in 1617 asked Galileo Galilei to observe it. Galileo then produced a detailed record of the double star. Later, around 1650, Riccioli wrote of Mizar appearing as a double. The secondary star, Mizar B, has magnitude 4.0 and spectral class A7, and comes within 380 AU of the primary; the two take thousands of years to revolve around each other. Mizar A then became the first spectroscopic binary to be discovered, by Pickering in 1889. The two components are both about 35 times as bright as the sun, and revolve around each other in about 20 days. Mizar B and Alcor were both later found to be spectroscopic doubles as well.

Related Topics:
Benedetto Castelli - Galileo Galilei - Riccioli - AU - Pickering - 1889

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The whole six star system lies about 78 light-years away from us. The components are all members of the Ursa Major moving group, a mostly dispersed group of stars sharing a common birth, as determined by proper motion. The other stars of the Big Dipper, except the end two, belong to this group as well.

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