Epsilon Eridani is a star in the southern constellation of Eridanus. At a distance of 10. 5 light-years from the Sun, it has an apparent magnitude of 3. 73. The star is estimated to be less than a billion years old. It has been the target of several observations in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names were Ran for the star and AEgir for the planet. Those names had been submitted by the pupils of the 8th Grade at Mountainside Middle School in Colbert, Washington, United States.
About Epsilon Eridani in brief
Epsilon Eridani is a star in the southern constellation of Eridanus. At a distance of 10. 5 light-years from the Sun, it has an apparent magnitude of 3. 73. It is the third-closest individual star or star system visible to the unaided eye. The star is estimated to be less than a billion years old. It has been the target of several observations in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names were Ran for the star and AEgir for the planet. Those names had been submitted by the pupils of the 8th Grade at Mountainside Middle School in Colbert, Washington, United States. In July 2016, the WGS organised a Working Group on Star Names to standardise proper names for stars. The names of the exoplanets and their host stars that were produced by the I AU are now listed as RanAU Catalog of Star Names. In Chinese, both are now equally valid; both are both called Epsilon Eridani; and in Chinese, Celestial Meadows, meaning Celestial Meadows, refers to an asterism in the sky. The planet and its host star were selected by the International Astronomical Union as part of a competition for giving proper names to exoplanet and host star. The orbital structure could be maintained by a hypothetical second planet, which if confirmed would be Epsilon Erodani c.
The EpsilonErodani system also includes two belts of rocky asteroids: at about 3 AU and 20 AU from the star. It may be a member of the Ursa Major Moving Group of stars that share a similar motion through the Milky Way, implying these stars shared a common origin in an open cluster. It appears in science fiction stories and has been suggested as a destination for interstellar travel. Despite being a relatively bright star, it was not given a proper name by early astronomers. It was not yet clear whether professional astronomers will generally use the new name, or continue to refer to the star as Epsilon erodani; both names are now valid. The discovery of the planet has been controversial because of the amount of background noise in the radial velocity data, particularly in the early observation, but many astronomers now regard the planet as confirmed. In 2016 it was given the alternative nameAEgir – meaning goddess of the sea and her husband, Ægir, is the god of the ocean. The system’s Bayer designation was established in 1603 by Johann Bayer. Despite this, the star has several other catalogue designations, including the Bayer designation ε Eridhani and the Bayer designation Ran. It also has a number of other names, such as π, Ϸ, ϳ, ω, ϼ, Ͼ, υ, Ϛ, π and ϳ Eridania, and Cidani.
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This page is based on the article Epsilon Eridani published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
