Achernar
Blue-white main-sequence star · Alpha Eridani
Flattest known star (extreme oblateness)
Marking the southern end of the river Eridanus, Achernar spins so fast that it is squashed into a markedly oblate shape, making it one of the least spherical stars known.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
6.7 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
1 thousand ×
as bright as the Sun
15,000 K
surface · blue-white star
7 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
140 ly
from Earth
0.5
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 1 thousand times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 140 years to reach us, so you see Achernar as it was 140 years ago.
Source · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Other notable stars in Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Stars of similar brightness
AlphardOrange giant971 ×PolarisYellow supergiant Cepheid variable1 thousand ×AlbireoOrange bright giant1 thousand ×AldebaranOrange giant439 ×RegulusBlue-white main-sequence star341 ×ArcturusOrange giant215 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→