Cor Caroli

   

 

Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum) is the brightest star in the northern constellation Canes Venatici. Cor Caroli marks the northern vertex of the Diamond of Virgo asterism. It is a binary star with a combined apparent magnitude of 2.81, approximately 110 light years from Earth.

The stars in this binary have a strong magnetic field, which is believed to produce starspots of enormous extent. Due to these starspots the brightness of the stars vary considerably during their rotation, varying between magnitude +2.84 and +2.98 with a period of 5.47 days.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Allegiance", Cor Caroli was visited by the USS Enterprise-D and was the location of an outbreak of Phyrox plague.

The name Cor Caroli means Charles' heart, and was named by Sir Charles Scarborough in honour of Charles I who was executed in the aftermath of the English Civil War.