Cor Caroli


Cor Caroli

(kor ka -rŏ-lÿ) (α CVn) A bluish-white star that is the brightest one in the constellation Canes Venatici, Its name means ‘Charles's Heart’ and was given to it by Edmund Halley in honor of the English King Charles II. It is a visual binary (separation 20″), the brighter component (A or α2 CVn) being the prototype of the spectrum variable stars. It has a period of 5.469 days and its spectrum shows strong profuse lines of rare earths, iron-peak elements, and silicon. mv : 2.9 (A), 5.5 (B); spectral type: B9.5 pv (A), F0 V (B).