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( Alpha Arietis)
Alpha Arietis (a Ari / a Arietis) is the brightest star in the constellation Aries. It also has the traditional names Hamal and El Nath. Its Flamsteed designation is 13 Arietis, but this is very rarely used because it is a bright star with a Bayer designation. The name "Hamal" derives from the Arabic name for the constellation as a whole, Al Hamal, "the sheep" or "the ram". Because of the confusion between star and constellation, the star is also (rarely) referred to as ??? ????? ras al-hamal, "head of the sheep/ram". The star is a K2 IIICa giant star, which means it is an orangish, large star (some 55 times brighter, 18 times larger in diameter, and 4.5 times more massive than the sun), while the "Ca" notation indicates calcium lines in its spectrum. It is slightly variable, by about 0.05 magnitude. The Hipparcos satellite indicates that Hamal is about 65.9 light-years from Earth. Combined with its intrinsic brightness, this relatively small distance makes the star shine at an apparent magnitude of 2.01, the 47th brightest star in the sky.
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