Theta Centauri
Theta Centauri (θ Cen, θ Centauri) is a star in the southern constellation of Centaurus, the centaur. It has the traditional Arabic name Menkent (possibly abbreviation of ألمنكب ألقنتوس - al mankib al-qanturis, meaning "shoulder of the Centaur"). This star has an apparent visual magnitude of +2.06, making it the fourth brightest member of the constellation. This star is close enough to the Earth that its distance can be measured using the parallax technique, yielding a value of 58.8 light-years (18.0 parsecs).
In Chinese, 庫樓 (Kù Lóu), meaning Arsenal, refers to an asterism consisting of θ Centauri, ζ Centauri, η Centauri, 2 Centauri, HD 117440, ξ1 Centauri, γ Centauri, τ Centauri, D Centauri and σ Centauri. Consequently, θ Centauri itself is known as 庫樓三 (Kù Lóu sān, English: the Third Star of Arsenal.)
This is an evolved giant star with a stellar classification of K0 III. The interferometry-measured angular diameter of this star, after correcting for limb darkening, is 5.46 ± 0.06 mas, which, at its estimated distance, equates to a physical radius of about 10.6 times the radius of the Sun. The outer envelope has an effective temperature of 4,980 K, giving it the orange-hued glow of a cool, K-type star. Soft X-ray emission has been detected from this star, which has an estimated X-ray luminosity of 1.4 × 1027 erg s−1.
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