Talk:Alpha Herculis

Ambiguity

There are two statements in this article which are ambiguous.

First: "This star's mass is on the border that explodes as a supernova or not." To which of the four components of the star system does the phrase "This star's mass" refer?

Second: "Ras Algethi has a diameter approximately 460 times greater than..." Is the diameter cited the seperation between the binary systems, or is it the diameter of one of the four stellar components?

Mtiffany71 05:07, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Too many Wikipedia pages for Hercules constellation use the modern star chart of Hercules proposed by H.A. Rey without telling where that drawing comes from. I suggest if Wikipedia is going to use the modern drawing they could at least put the correct caption on them.99.118.199.88 (talk) 04:10, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Contested page move

In recent days there have been two attempts to move this article to Rasalgethi (binary) which have been reversed both for failure to consult and because there were reasons for the present title of the page. I thought it might be useful to set out my reasoning for why the attempted move was a bad idea. First, the traditional name Rasalgethi refers to the point of light in the sky that Bayer later designated Alpha Herculis. As such, this name applied to the whole of Alpha Herculis because it dates to well before the invention of the telescope that is necessary to resolve its components! And that's how it appears on star charts, which only show the point of light. The article states that Alpha Herculis is a triple star system consisting of a single star and a binary pair (it probably needs updating - it appears to actually be two binary pairs). And since 2016, the IAU has been regularising the names of stars. As part of that it decided that names should apply to single stars only, not stellar systems. So, whether using the traditional or approved name of Rasalgethi, Rasalgethi (binary) is incorrect - there is no binary of that name! The difference between the traditional and approved usage of the name speaks to the second reason for keeping the title as Alpha Herculis - it is simply much more convenient! It is clear what Alpha Herculis refers to; less so for Rasalgethi. Cuddlyopedia (talk) 07:58, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Rasalgethi (binary) would be a poor name both because it is inaccurate and because it adds little clarity in the event that it might be confused with some other Rasalgethi. As it happens, there is no other Rasalgethi, so the possible alternate name for the article would simply be Rasalgethi, currently a redirect to Alpha Herculis. Lithopsian (talk) 09:43, 9 July 2018 (UTC)