Psi Persei
Psi Persei is a Be star in the northern constellation of Perseus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.31, so it is visible to the naked eye at night under suitably dark skies. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of roughly from the Earth.
This star has a stellar classification of B5Ve, which indicates it is a B-type main sequence star that is generating energy at its core through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen. It is a shell star with a circumstellar disc of gas surrounding the equator and extending out to about 11 times the radius of the star. As a result of this disc, the spectrum of this star shows emission lines and its magnitude varies over a period of about a day.
Psi Persei is rotating rapidly with a projected rotational velocity along the equator of 390 km/s or more. The axis of rotation is inclined about to the line of sight from the Earth, so this velocity is close to the actual azimuthal velocity along the star's equator. It is expelling mass at the rate of about times the mass of the Sun per year, or the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 20 million years. This star may be a member of the Alpha Persei Cluster, although its proper motion is high compared to other members.Name and etymology
- This star, together with δ Per, σ Per, α Per, γ Per and η Per, has been called the Segment of Perseus.
- In Chinese, 天船, meaning Celestial Boat, refers to an asterism consisting of ψ Persei, η Persei, α Persei, γ Persei, δ Persei, 48 Persei, μ Persei and HD 27084. Consequently, the Chinese name for ψ Persei itself is 天船四
