TALITHA

Devin Sciarrino
ASTR 203
4-21-2023

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Abstract
Talitha, also known as Iota Ursae Majoris, is a double binary star system located in Ursa

Major. This report details the historical significance, physical properties, life cycle, and probable

instability of the star system.

The name Talitha comes from Arabic, and it means the third step. This comes from a

story of a gazelle that startled by a lion and ran away with Talitha being the third step it took. To

the Greeks and Romans, it was the front right paw of Ursa Major, the large bear. And in the mid-

sixties the Apollo astronauts tried to remain the star Dnoces, after their fallen comrade Edward

H. White II. The International Astronomical Union did not uphold this.

Talitha is a double binary star system, so it has four stars in total. One type A main

sequence star, one white dwarf, and two red dwarfs. The white dwarf has not been directly

observed.

The life cycle of the four stars is also discussed. All four of the stars are either currently

or will be white dwarfs at the end of their life cycles, unless a solar Collison occurs on account of

their unstable orbital patterns. The system has a 98% chance of becoming unstable within

100,000 years. If this where to happen the stars will either collide and super nova, collide and

merge together, or will be thrown out.

Overall, the study of Talitha provides important insight into the stars, especially the

complexities of binary and double binary stay systems.

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Introduction
Talitha has been observed long before telescopes existed and has been the basis of lore

across cultures. Many cultures across the world had different names for Talitha. The Arabs,

Greeks, Chinese, Native Americans, and others all have their own stories of how it came to be.

As our technology improved our understanding of Talitha has increased. What used to be a foot

of bear, changed to a star with a blueish hue. And then form just one star to two, then two to

three and finally four. The final star we still have not been able to observe but we know it’s there

because of other advancements in technology like spectroscopy. This report includes a history of

the star Talitha, an investigation into its properties and subsystems, and an analysis of its current

and future life cycle stages.

Fig 1. DSS Colored image of Talitha - Aladdin Sky Atlas[13]

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History of the Star

Talitha

Talitha is the proper name for the star. It is of Arabic origin and comes from a mis-

transcription of the phrase “Al Fikrah al Thalitha”. Translated to English this means “The third

spring of the gazelle”[11]. This name comes from a story from Arabic lore. As the story goes, a

lion’s tail (the tail of the constellation Leo the Lion), startled a gazelle that was taking a drink

from a pond (The coma star cluster). As the Gazelle ran away it left three hoof prints; the hoof

prints being the three star pairs that also form 3 of the feet of the bear in Ursa Major. The three

star pairs are named Alula, Tania, and Talitha Australis and Borealis. The first names translate to

first, second, and third leap while “Australis and Borealis” refer to the northern and southern

position of each star in the pair. The star written about in this paper is the northern Talitha twin,

Talitha Borealis, while Talitha Australis would be Kappa Ursae Majoris. Both stars are known to

both casually called be referred to as “Talitha”[11].

Fig 2. “The Three Leaps of the Gazelle” – Wassupinthemilkyway.blogspot.com[11]

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Iota Ursae Majoris

As was mentioned earlier, Talitha makes up one of the feet of the bear in the constellation

Ursa Major, The big bear. The lore behind Ursa Major come from Greek mythology. Like many

stories in Greek mythology, it starts with Zeus having an affair, this time with the beautiful

Callisto. Callisto was one of the followers of Artemis. Zeus, knowing this, transformed into the

figure of Artemis and seduced her.[14] Because of this she became pregnant. When this was

discovered by the other gods, Callisto was expelled from the followers of Artemis and turned

into a bear by Hera. To protect Callisto and their child, Zeus grabbed each of them by the tail and

threw them into the heavens. That is why the constellations Ursa Major and Minor have long

tails even though they are bears[3].

Fig 3. “Constellation Card” - Samuel Leigh, 1824[7]

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Dnoces

Talitha was almost accidentally renamed “Dnoces”, which is the word “Second” in

reverse. It was named after astronaut and original Apollo I crew member Edward H. White II,

who tragically lost his life along with his crew when an electrical fire occurred in the capsule

during a launch rehearsal test for the mission on January 27th, 1967[5].

A few months later during an Astronomy training session for the Apollo 1 backup crew,

Talitha, along with Gamma Cassiopeia and Suhail were given the names Dnoces, Navi, and

Regor, the names of the Apollo 1 crew spelled backwards[8]. The reason behind the renaming

was that the Apollo missions had 36 stars that were used to aid in navigation. 33 of the stars had

known prominent names while the 3 others did not. So, the Apollo one backup crew, along with

Dr. Clarence Cleminshaw, renamed the stars after their fallen comrades. The proper names for

the three renamed stars where not as familiar as some of the other navigational stars like Polaris

and Betelgeuse[8].

Other Designations

Talitha Borealis ι Ursae Majoris ι UMa Iota Uma

9 Ursae Majoris BD+48 1707 FK5 335 GJ 331
HD 76644 HR 3569 SAO 42630 WDS J08592+4803A,BC
Fig 4. Table of other Names and Designations for the star Talitha

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Properties of Talitha

Apparent Magnitude

Talitha has been an important star throughout history. Being a part of many stories across

cultures throughout history. This is because of how bright it is. With an apparent magnitude of

3.14 it is easily seen with the naked eye. But only the white type A can be seen from earth. The

red dwarfs have apparent magnitudes of 10.1 and 10.3. To be able to see them you would need a

telescope with at least an 8” aperture. Even though an apparent magnitude of 3.14 is not

extremely bright, the star still has a luminosity 9.87 times greater than that of our sun.

System and Sub-Systems

Talitha is double binary star system. This means that Talitha is made up of 2 pairs of stars

that orbit each other. The first pair is made up of a A7IV[13] white main sequence star and a white

dwarf. The pair is a spectroscopic binary since the white dwarf has never been directly observed.

To be a spectroscopic binary a star system must have periodic changing of spectral lines in a

rhythmic way[4]. Because of the difficulties in observing the companion white dwarf not much is

known about it. All the properties known have come from models instead of direct observations.

But based on the models the white dwarfs are predicted to have a mass of around 1.0 M☉. The

distance between the distance between the white dwarf and the type A is unknown. The other

binary sub system within Talitha is a pair of red dwarfs. They have masses of .35 M☉, 0.3 M☉.

there is 10 au between the stars, and they rotate around each other every 39.7 years[15]. The two

binary sub-systems also rotate around each other every 2084 years and have an average distance

of 130 au units between them[15].

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 Fig 5. Low resolution(R=500) spectrum of Talitha, Comparison spectra are also given[15]

Support of Data

The data for the spectral types, masses, orbital periods, and binary distances have come

from the astronomy report “Physical Parameters and Dynamical Properties of the Multiple

Systems I UMA (ADS 7114)”. This was an astronomical report done by Russian astronomers of

various institutions specifically to analyze the systems and subsystems of Talitha. To optimize

the properties of Talitha, they used the WDS catalog, 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical

Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and 1.5-m Russian-Turkish telescope in

Antalya Turkey. The Paper was submitted to Astronomy Reports in September of 2011 and was

put into final form November of 2011. Because this paper was meant only to get a better

understanding of Talitha, and is the most recent done on the subject, I say that the accuracy of

their numbers is the most accurate for Talitha. As for the Coordinates, Distance, parallax angle,

proper motion, radial velocity, and apparent magnitude; the data has been confirmed form

SIMBAD star catalog and eSKY.

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Properties of Talitha

Property Value Property Value

Coordinates RA: 08h59m12.45362s Spectral Type A7IV, M3V, M4V
Dec: +48º 02’ 30.5741”
Distance 47.32 Luminosity 9.87 L☉
Lightyears
Parallax Angle 68.92 Surface 8241° ± 70°K
Temperature
Proper Motion RA: -441.29 mas Mass 1.7 M☉, 1.0 M☉,
Dec: -215.32 .35 M☉, 0.3 M☉
Radial Velocity 9.0 km/s Period of Orbit Aa: 12.2 years
BC: 39.7 years
AaBC: 2084 years
Apparent 3.14, 10.1, 10.3 Distance from Binary Aa: 5-6 au
Magnitude BC: 10 au
AaBC: 130 au,
Age 620 myr

Fig 6. Table of properties for the star Talitha[1,2,15]

Life Cycle of Star

Iota Uma A

Iota UMa A is the brightest of the stars in the quadruple and is the only one that can be

see without a telescope. It is a type A main sequence star located on the mid to top left portion of

the main sequence on the HR diagram[12]. As a sub giant it would currently be running low on

hydrogen and would start burning Helium into Carbon soon. But if classed by temperature and

luminosity the star comes out to have 1.7 M☉. This means it still has a lot more time of burning

hydrogen into Helium left[9]. The latter is more likely since the star is only 620 million years old.

The star is likely creating energy with the proton-proton chain process. The way the P-P chain

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works is first, two hydrogen nuclei combine to form deuterium and emit positron and a neutrino.

Then the deuterium captures a third hydrogen nuclei helium-3 and emits a gamma ray. Finally,

two helium-3 nuclei combine. This release helium-4 and two protons. This process happens

trillions a minute[11]. After a few billion years when the star has depleted all its hydrogen, it will

turn into a sub-giant. As a sub-giant it will form a hydrogen shell around its helium core and will

continue fusing hydrogen into helium. As fusion occurs, pressure from the reaction makes the

star expand. Eventually the helium core collapses, and the star will become a red giant. It will

begin converting helium into carbon and oxygen in its core while the shell will remain burning

hydrogen. This fusion process is called the triple-alpha process. Once the star runs out of

helium, the carbon and oxygen core will collapse, and the star will ascend to the Asymptotic

Giant Branch on the H-R Diagram and become a super-giant. There, it will alternate between

burning hydrogen and helium shells; this will cause the star to pulse every 100-1000 days. The

Super giant will slowly eject its atmosphere and form a planetary nebula. Once it has lost all its

matter it will begin to cool and become a white dwarf. The white dwarf is a stellar remnant of a

low mass star and a hot ball of carbon and oxygen.

Fig 7. A picture of a Type A star[6]

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Iota UMa a

This star is the binary companion star with the type A main sequence star. It is a white

dwarf and is already a stellar remnant of the star that used to be. The star would have had to be

much larger than its type A counterpart. This is because they are the same age and larger stars

live shorter lives than smaller ones. But it is not completely done yet. When its binary partner

eventually becomes a red giant. The white dwarf has the potential to become a nova. A nova is

binary star system with a white dwarf and a giant where the white dwarf will accrete matter from

the giant. An accretion disk will form around the white dwarf and can reach enough pressure to

start a fusion reaction.

Fig 8. An artist rendering of a nova

Iota UMa B

This star is a M3V types of red dwarf. It is a main sequence star, but it is a small one so it

located on the bottom right corner of the main sequence. It is only 35% of the mass of our own

sun and is dwarves in comparison to Type A parent star. This star would still be impossible to

see with the naked eye even without being next to Iota UMa A. Since the star is currently in the

main sequence it is fusing hydrogen into helium through the proton-proton chain fusion reaction.

It will follow a similar bath to its Type A sibling in becoming a red giant, solar nebula, and then

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a white dwarf. The only difference is that it will do this over a much longer time. This is because

this red dwarf is over 4 times smaller than its quadruplet.

Iota UMa C

This star is a M4V class red dwarf. It is even smaller than its red dwarf sibling and is the

smallest star in the quadruplet system in terms of mass. It will also follow the same stellar life

process as its three siblings. The only difference will be is that it will be the last star to die and

live the longest life.

Fig 9. Two red dwarf stars in a binary system

Instability of the Star System

The Talitha quadruple star system is unstable. This means at some point in the future the

stars may collide or fling each other away. The star system will collide or fall apart with in 106

with a probability of 98% likely[14]. For the star system to become stable the period would have

to increase to 13,000 years, but this will only decrease the probability of instability to 50%[14].

The reason for the instability comes from the eccentricity of the BC sub system. The Aa pair do

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act to increase the instability by themselves. There are several possibilities as to why the

HD76644 system is unstable. One being the Aa and BC sub systems are unrelated and

approached each other in the galactic field. This would make their orbits hyperbolic. Another

possibility would be that the BC pair was thrown out of the system in the past but has returned.

This possibility is highly reliant on the initial conditions of the system. The final possibility as to

why the system is unstable is it got too close to another massive object in the galactic field. This

object could be another star or gas cloud. This would trigger a loss of stability in the system and

our current observations would be showing a transitional period[14].

In the future the unstable star system could collide. Depending on when and which stars

collide will determines the outcome of the combination. If the one of the stars is a white dwarf

and hit collides with one of the other at it surpasses the Chandrasekhar limit, A type Ia Super

nova will occur. Another possible outcome is if the merger happens more recently and it includes

the Type A and the red dwarfs, the type A will Absorb the two dwarfs and a new larger star will

be born. This star is called a blue straggler. Some matter will be ejected and will form an

accretion disk around the star. In this disk new planets can form. If the collision happens at high

speed a super nova can occur.

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 Fig 10. A diagram of the various outcomes of star collisions

Conclusion
In conclusion, Talitha has played an important of human civilizations. From Ancient

stories to navigating to the moon. The physical properties of the four stars in the system provide

insight into the complexities of binary and double binary stars. As our technology gets better our

understanding of Talitha and other stars grows with it.

Reference List

1. “ Iot UMa A.” SIMBAD, https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-

id?Ident=*+iot+UMa+A. Accessed 21 Apr. 2023.

2. “ Iot UMa BC.” SIMBAD, http://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-

id?Ident=%40539624&Name=NAME%20*%20iot%20UMa%20BC&submit=submit.
Accessed 21 Apr. 2023.

3. Allen, Richard H. “Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning.” Lacuscurtius • Allen's Star
Names - Ursa Major, 1963,
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/astronomy/_Texts/secondary/A
LLSTA/Ursa_Major*.html.

4. “Bulk Stellar Properties.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.,

https://www.britannica.com/science/star-astronomy/Bulk-stellar-properties#ref510341.

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5. Dunbar, Brian. “Apollo 1.” NASA, NASA, 16 Mar. 2015,
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo1.html.

6. Engage to Excel - the White House | Whitehouse.gov.

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excel-final_2-25-12.pdf.

7. “International Astronomical Union.” IAU,

https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/iau1603a/.

8. Jones, Eric M. “Post-Landing Activities.” NASA, NASA, 28 Oct. 2016,

https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15.postland.html.

9. Kaler, Jim. Talitha, http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/talitha.html.

10. Keese, Karen. “Three Leaps of the Gazelle.” Three Leaps of the Gazelle, 21 May 2009,
https://whassupinthemilkyway.blogspot.com/2009/05/three-leaps-of-gazelle.html.

11. “Proton-Proton Chain.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

https://www.britannica.com/science/proton-proton-cycle.

12. “Talitha - ι Ursae Majoris (Iota Ursae Majoris) - Star in Ursa Major.” Star in Ursa Major
| TheSkyLive.com, https://theskylive.com/sky/stars/talitha-iota-ursae-majoris-star.

13. “Talitha.” ESky: Talitha, https://www.glyphweb.com/esky/stars/talitha.html.

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https://web.pa.msu.edu/people/horvatin/Astronomy_Facts/constellation_pages/ursa_majo
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nto%20the%20sky.

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