Acubens

Acubens, Bayer designation Alpha Cancri (α Cancri, abbreviated Alpha Cnc, α Cnc), is a star system in the constellation of Cancer.

Nomenclature
α Cancri (Latinised to Alpha Cancri) is the star's Bayer designation.

The traditional name Acubens (Açubens) is derived from the Arabic الزبانى al zubanāh, 'the claws'. A second name, Sertan, derives from the Arabic al-saraṭān, 'the crab'. The International Astronomical Union Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) choose 'Acubens' as the proper name for this star.

Properties
Acubens is a fourth-magnitude star with an apparent magnitude of 4.20, making it barely visible to the naked eye under good lighting conditions. Nevertheless, it is 23 times more luminous than the Sun. Its stellar classification is given as kA7VmF0/2III/IVSr, indicating an Am star with calcium K-lines similar to an A7 main sequence star and hydrogen lines more like an F0 giant or subgiant star. The distance of Acubens calculated from the Gaia Data Release 2 parallax is roughly 50 parsecs from Earth, or approximately 164 light-years away.

Since it is near the ecliptic, it can be occulted by the Moon and very rarely by planets.

Star system
The primary component, Acubens A, is a white A-type main-sequence dwarf with an apparent magnitude of +4.26. Its companion, Acubens B, is an eleventh-magnitude star. In the year 1836, its position angle was observed at 325 degrees with a separation from the main star Acubens A of 11.3 arcseconds.

From studying its light curve during occultation, it is thought that Acubens A may itself be a close binary, consisting of two stars with similar brightness and a separation of 0.1 arcsecond.

In modern culture
USS Acubens (AKS-5) was a United States Navy ship.