Achernar

Related Category: Astronomy: Stars

(ā´kərnär´´), brightest star in the constellation Eridanus; Bayer designation &agr; Eridani; 1992 position R.A. 1^h37.4^m, Dec. −57°16&minut;. A bluish-white white star with apparent magnitude 0.51, it is one of the 10 brightest stars in the entire sky. Its distance is about 120 light-years, and its luminosity about 600 times that of the sun. Achernar is of spectral class B5 V. Its name is from the Arabic meaning “end of the river [Eridanus].”