List of stars with resolved images

The following is a list of stars whose images have been resolved beyond a point source. Aside from the Sun, stars are tremendously small in apparent size, requiring the use of special high-resolution equipment to image. For example, the first star, other than the Sun, to be directly imaged was Betelgeuse. It has an angular diameter of only 50 milliarcseconds (mas).[1]

List

An incomplete list is as follows:

Star Angular diameter Radius
(RSun)		 Distance Imager
The Sun 30 arcminutes 1 1 au Resolvable with the naked eye.
Also, see solar telescope
Altair 3.2 mas 1.7 16.77 ± 0.08 ly MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[2]
Betelgeuse 50 mas 630 643 ± 146 ly Aperture Masking Interferometry, Hubble[1]
R Doradus 57 ± 5 mas 370 ± 50 204 ± 9 ly New Technology Telescope[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b H.Uitenbroek et al.; Dupree, A. K.; Gilliland, R. L. (1998). "Spatially Resolved Hubble Space Telescope Spectra of the Chromosphere of alpha Orionis". Astronomical Journal 116 (5): 2501. Bibcode 1998AJ....116.2501U. doi:10.1086/300596. 
  2. ^ J.D. Monnier et al. (2007). "Imaging the Surface of Altair". Science 317 (5836): 342–5. Bibcode 2007Sci...317..342M. doi:10.1126/science.1143205. PMID 17540860. 
  3. ^ "The Biggest Star in the Sky". ESO. March 11, 1997. http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso9706/. Retrieved 2010-06-26.