Canopus - Physical Properties

Physical Properties

Before the launch of the Hipparcos satellite telescope, distance estimates for the star varied widely, from 96 light years to 1200 light years. Had the latter distance been correct, Canopus would have been one of the most luminous stars in our galaxy. Hipparcos established Canopus as lying 310 light years (96 parsecs) from our solar system; this is based on a parallax measurement of 10.43 ± 0.53 mas. The difficulty in measuring Canopus' distance stemmed from its unusual nature. Canopus has been classified as a F0 II or F0 Ib (Ib referring to "less luminous supergiant") star, and such stars are rare and poorly understood; they are stars that can be either in the process of evolving to or away from red giant status. This in turn made it difficult to know how intrinsically bright Canopus is, and therefore how far away it might be. Direct measurement was the only way to solve the problem. Canopus is too far away for Earth-based parallax observations to be made, so the star's distance was not known with certainty until the early 1990s.

The surface temperature of Canopus has been estimated at 7350 ± 30 K.

Infrared interferometry was used to calculate its angular diameter at 6.93 ± 0.15 mas. Combined with distance calculated by Hipparcos, this gives it a diameter of 71.4 ± 0.4 times that of the sun. If it were placed at the centre of our solar system, it would extend 90% of the way to the orbit of Mercury.

Canopus is the most intrinsically bright star within approximately 700 light years, and it has been the brightest star in Earth's sky during three different epochs over the past four million years. Other stars appear brighter only during relatively temporary periods, during which they are passing our solar system at a much closer distance than Canopus. About 90,000 years ago, Sirius moved close enough that it became brighter than Canopus, and that will remain the case for another 210,000 years. But in 480,000 years, Canopus will once again be the brightest, and will remain so for a period of about 510,000 years.

Canopus is part of the Scorpius-Centaurus Association, a group of stars which share similar origins.

Canopus is a strong source of X-rays, which are probably produced by its corona, magnetically heated to around 15 million K. The temperature has likely been stimulated by fast rotation combined with strong convection percolating through the star's outer layers. The star's surface temperature is too cool to account for the X-rays.