Our Star of the Month

Hi All

With Hollywood celebrities dropping like flies, I thought I would start a new  event on our web page.  Something that will show the young’uns what a real star is.   It is with this in mind that I introduce this month’s “Star of the Month”.

Fomalhaut (pronounced Foam-al-hot)

Constellation: Piscis Australis

Age: 100 – 300 million years old  (Kinda like a Miley Cyrus, maybe Lindsay Lohan of the space scene)

Distance from Earth: 25 Light Years

Magnitude: +1.16

Nickname:  (When you have been around as long as these guys you tend to get a lot of them, here’s the most popular)

Mouth of the Fish, Mouth of the Whale

Claim to fame:  He is a Daddy.  It is the First Star system with a planet that we can see in visible light, Namely Fomalhaut B.  (I know kak sounding name especially when you think that it is not like they only had a week to come up with it.)

Has a Dust Cloud which surrounds it and makes it look rather like Sauron’s Eye in Lord of the Rings!

Famous Family:  Fomalhaut is a member of the Castor Moving group.  No they are not a removal company but merely a bunch of stars that share a similar movement through space.  To name drop a few, Vega and Castor are rumoured to roll with our boy!

No record of any DUI’s or Accidental OD’s at this stage but hey… in 300 million years he must have let his guard down at least once.  Where did Fomalhaut B come from for instance.

So there we have it folks.  This weeks Star of the Month.