Beta Arae

Characteristics

The spectrum of this star matches a stellar classification of K0/1 Ib, with the luminosity class notation 'Ib' indicating that the star is a supergiant. It has an age estimated at 50 million years, having spent much of its life as a B-type star. Currently, it has expanded to 141 times the Sun's size and is 5,800 times more luminous. Beta Arae is radiating energy from its outer envelope at an effective temperature of 4,200 K, which causes it to take on the orange hue of a K-type star. This enlarged star appears to be rotating slowly with a projected rotational velocity of about 5 km/s. The abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium, its metallicity, is more than three times that of the Sun.