Gamma Leonis - System Components

System Components

Algieba, as a binary system, consists of two stars. The brighter component has an apparent magnitude of +2.28 and is of spectral class K1-IIIbCN-0.5. The giant K star has a surface temperature of 4,470 K, a luminosity 180 times that of Earth's Sun, and a diameter 23 times that of the Sun. The companion star has an apparent magnitude of +3.51 and belongs to the spectral class G7IIICN-I. The giant G star has a temperature of 4,980 K, a luminosity of 50 times that of the Sun, and a diameter 10 times that of the Sun. With angular separation of just over 4", the two stars are at least 170 AU apart (four times the distance between Pluto and the Sun), and have an orbital period of over 500 years. Because the orbital period is so long, only a fraction of the full path has been observed since discovery.

Both stars are almost certainly true giants, meaning that they have stopped fusing hydrogen to helium in their cores and have expanded to great proportions. Although there has been too little observation of their orbit to calculate their masses, comparison with evolutionary calculations suggests that each are about double the mass of the Sun. Originating from the same interstellar cloud some two billion years ago, the stars have iron contents about a third that of the Sun. It is hard to tell how far along they might be in their life cycle. They both may be fusing helium in their cores, or they could be giants in development, with quiet helium cores that are waiting to fire up. The chemical composition at the surface, which is influenced by age, suggests the former.