Epsilon Carinae is located roughly 560–660 light-years (170–200 parsecs) from the Sun.[1] Measurements during the Hipparcos mission give the pair an angular separation of 0.46 arcseconds with a difference in magnitude of 2.0.[5] At their estimated distance, this angle is equivalent to a physical separation of around 4 astronomical units.[14]
The primary component has an apparent visual magnitude of 2.2,[3] which by itself would still make it the third-brightest star in the constellation. It is an evolvedgiant star with a stellar classification of K0 III. However, examination of the ultraviolet flux from this star suggests it may instead be of spectral type K7.[5] The fainter secondary companion has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.1,[3] which, if it were a solitary star, would be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. This is a hot, core hydrogen-fusing B-type main sequence star of spectral class B2 Vp.[5] The secondary may itself have an orbiting stellar companion of spectral class F8.[9] This pair may form an eclipsing binary system[14] with a period of 785 days (2.15 years), resulting in a magnitude change of 0.12 during each eclipse.[6][15]
The name Avior is not classical in origin. It was assigned to the star by HM Nautical Almanac Office in the late 1930s during the creation of The Air Almanac, a navigational almanac for the Royal Air Force. Of the fifty-seven navigation stars included in the new almanac, two had no classical names: Epsilon Carinae and Alpha Pavonis. The RAF insisted that all of the stars must have names, so new names were invented. Alpha Pavonis was named "Peacock", a translation of Pavo, whilst Epsilon Carinae was called "Avior". Donald Sadler, then Superintendent of HM Nautical Almanac Office, recounted this in his memoirs[16] but failed to explain the etymology of the invented name. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[17] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016[18] included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Avior for this star.
In Chinese, 海石 (Hǎi Shí), meaning Sea Rock, refers to an asterism consisting of ε Carinae, Iota Carinae, HD 83183, HD 84810 and Upsilon Carinae .[19] Consequently, ε Carinae itself is known as 海石一 (Hǎi Shí yī, English: the First Star of Sea Rock.)[20]
^ a b c d e fvan Leeuwen, F. (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 474 (2): 653–664, arXiv:0708.1752, Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357, S2CID 18759600.
^ a b cJohnson, H. L.; et al. (1966), "UBVRIJKL photometry of the bright stars", Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, 4 (99): 99, Bibcode:1966CoLPL...4...99J.
^ a b cFabricius, C.; Makarov, V. V. (April 2000), "Two-colour photometry for 9473 components of close Hipparcos double and multiple stars", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 356: 141–145, Bibcode:2000A&A...356..141F.
^Houk, Nancy (1978), "Michigan catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars", University of Michigan Catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars. Volume I. Declinations −90_ to −53_ƒ0, 1, Ann Arbor: Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Bibcode:1975mcts.book.....H.
^ a b c dParsons, Sidney B.; Ake, Thomas B. (November 1998), "Ultraviolet and Optical Studies of Binaries with Luminous Cool Primaries and Hot Companions. V. The Entire IUE Sample", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 119 (1): 83–104, Bibcode:1998ApJS..119...83P, doi:10.1086/313152.
^ a bHoffleit, Dorrit; Warren Jr, W. H., The Bright Star Catalogue (5th revised ed.), Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, retrieved 2012-02-12.. See: VizieR V/50
^Evans, D. S. (June 20–24, 1966), "The Revision of the General Catalogue of Radial Velocities", in Batten, Alan Henry; Heard, John Frederick (eds.), Determination of Radial Velocities and their Applications, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 30, vol. 30, University of Toronto: International Astronomical Union, p. 57, Bibcode:1967IAUS...30...57E.
^ a b c d eParsons, Sidney B. (May 2004), "New and Confirmed Triple Systems with Luminous Cool Primaries and Hot Companions", The Astronomical Journal, 127 (5): 2915–2930, Bibcode:2004AJ....127.2915P, doi:10.1086/383546.
^ a bTetzlaff, N.; Neuhäuser, R.; Hohle, M. M. (January 2011), "A catalogue of young runaway Hipparcos stars within 3 kpc from the Sun", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 410 (1): 190–200, arXiv:1007.4883, Bibcode:2011MNRAS.410..190T, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17434.x, S2CID 118629873.
^ a b cCharbonnel, C.; Lagarde, N.; Jasniewicz, G.; North, P. L.; Shetrone, M.; Krugler Hollek, J.; Smith, V. V.; Smiljanic, R.; Palacios, A.; Ottoni, G. (2020-01-01), "Lithium in red giant stars: Constraining non-standard mixing with large surveys in the Gaia era", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 633: A34, arXiv:1910.12732, Bibcode:2020A&A...633A..34C, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201936360, ISSN 0004-6361 Epsilon Carinae's database entry at VizieR.
^"IAU Catalog of Star Names". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
^Moore, Patrick (2010). Patrick Moore's Astronomy: Teach Yourself. Hachette. ISBN 978-1444129779.
^ a bKaler, James B., "AVIOR (Epsilon Carinae)", Stars, University of Illinois, retrieved 2012-02-12.
^Hoffleit, Dorrit (1996), "A Catalogue of Correlations Between Eclipsing Binaries and Other Categories of Double Stars", The Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, 24 (2): 105–116, Bibcode:1996JAVSO..24..105H
^Sadler, D. H., Wilkins, G. A. (ed.), A Personal History of H.M. Nautical Almanac Office (PDF), Sidford, Devon: Unpublished, p. 4, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-03, retrieved 2012-02-08.
^"IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
^"Bulletin of the IAU Working Group on Star Names, No. 1" (PDF). Retrieved 28 July 2016.
^(in Chinese)中國星座神話, written by 陳久金. Published by 台灣書房出版有限公司, 2005, ISBN 978-986-7332-25-7.
^(in Chinese) 香港太空館 – 研究資源 – 亮星中英對照表 Archived 2010-08-11 at the Wayback Machine, Hong Kong Space Museum. Accessed on line November 23, 2010.