Achernar , Alpha Eridani . It is the ninth brightest star in the night sky, with a stellar magnitude of +0.58, and is the main luminary in the constellation Eridano.
It is bluish-white, is located 140 light-years away and is 7 times and 4000 times brighter than the sun . Achernar is a very peculiar star because it is one of the flattest stars known. Observations indicate that its radius is almost 50% longer at the equator than at the poles. This is because the star rotates at high speed.
Summary
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- 1 Location
- 2 Mythology
- 3 Origin of the name
- 4 Sources
Location
Achernar forms the southern end of the long constellation Eridanus. It is not observed from latitudes higher than 32º N, as it is a southern circumpolar star.
Mythology
In the different civilizations of antiquity, the constellation of Eridano represented several rivers, such as the Nile , the Euphrates or the Po, due to its elongated shape that takes it from Orion to near the South Celestial Pole.
Name’s origin
Its name derives from the Arabic “Al Ahir al Nahr”, “the end of the river”