List of stars with resolved images

The following is a list of stars whose images have been resolved beyond a point source. Aside from the Sun, stars are tremendously small in apparent size, requiring the use of special high-resolution equipment to image. For example, the first star, other than the Sun, to be directly imaged was Betelgeuse. It has an angular diameter of only 50 milliarcseconds (mas).^[1]

List

An incomplete list is as follows:

Star	Angular diameter	Radius (RSun)	Distance	Imager
The Sun	30 arcminutes	1	1 au	Resolvable with the naked eye. Also, see solar telescope
Altair	3.2 mas	1.66 ± 0.01 (polar) 2.02 ± 0.01 (equator)	16.77 ± 0.08 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[2]
Betelgeuse	50 mas	630	643 ± 146 ly	Aperture Masking Interferometry, Hubble[1]
R Doradus	57 ± 5 mas	370 ± 50	204 ± 9 ly	New Technology Telescope[3]
Mira (Omicron Ceti)	50 mas	up to 700	420 ly	Hubble[4]
Epsilon Aurigae	2.27 mas (A component)	3.7 ± 0.7 (A component) 5.9 ± 0.1 (B component)	ca. 2000 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[5]
Beta Cassiopeiae	1.70 ± 0.04 mas	3.1 ± 0.1 (polar) 3.8 ± 0.1 (equator)	54.7 ± 0.3 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[6]
Regulus (Alpha Leonis A)	1.24 ± 0.02 mas	3.2 ± 0.1 (polar) 4.2 ± 0.1 (equator)	79.3 ± 0.7 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[6]
Algol (Beta Persei ABC)	0.88 ± 0.05 mas (A component) 1.12 ± 0.07 mas (B component) 0.56 ± 0.10 mas (C component)	4.13 (A component) 3 (B component) 0.9 (C component)	93 ± 2 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[7]
Alderamin (Alpha Cephei)	1.35 ± 0.02 mas (polar) 1.75 ± 0.03 mas (equatorial)	2.20 ± 0.04 (polar) 2.74 ± 0.04 (equator)	48.8 ± 0.36 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[8]
Rasalhague (Alpha Ophiuchi A)		2.39 ± 0.01 (polar) 2.87 ± 0.02 (equator)	48.6 ± 0.8 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[8]
Beta Lyrae	0.46 mas (A component)	6 (A component)	960 ± 50 ly	MIRC instrument on the CHARA Array[9]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

See also

• Doppler imaging which produces maps of the surfaces of stars
• Zeeman–Doppler imaging which maps the magnetic fields of stars

References

1. H.Uitenbroek; Dupree, A. K.; Gilliland, R. L. (1998). "Spatially Resolved Hubble Space Telescope Spectra of the Chromosphere of alpha Orionis". Astronomical Journal 116 (5): 2501. Bibcode:1998AJ....116.2501U. doi:10.1086/300596.
2. J.D. Monnier; et al. (2007). "Imaging the Surface of Altair". Science 317 (5836): 342–5. arXiv:0706.0867. Bibcode:2007Sci...317..342M. doi:10.1126/science.1143205. PMID 17540860.
3. "The Biggest Star in the Sky". ESO. March 11, 1997. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
4. "Resolving Mira". NASA. October 11, 1998. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
5. B. Kloppenborg; et al. (2010). "Infrared images of the transiting disk in the Epsilon Aurigae system". Nature 464 (7290): 370–2. arXiv:1004.2464. Bibcode:2010Natur.464..870K. doi:10.1038/nature08968.
6. X. Che; et al. (2011). "Colder And Hotter: Interferometric Imaging Of Beta Cassiopeiae And Αlpha Leonis". The Astrophysical Journal 732: 68. arXiv:1105.0740. Bibcode:2011ApJ...732...68C. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/732/2/68.
7. Baron, F.; Monnier, J.; Pedretti, E.; Zhao, M.; Schaefer, G.; Parks, R.; Che, X.; Thureau, N.; ten Brummelaar, T. A.; McAlister, H. A.; Ridgway, S. T.; Farrington, C.; Sturmann, J.; Sturmann, L.; Turner, N. (2012). "Imaging the Algol Triple System in the H Band with the CHARA Interferometer". The Astrophysical Journal 752 (1): 20. arXiv:1205.0754. Bibcode:2012ApJ...752...20B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/752/1/20. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
8. M. Zhao; et al. (2009). "Imaging And Modeling Rapidly Rotating Stars: Alpha Cephei And Alpha Ophiuchi". The Astrophysical Journal 701: 209. arXiv:0906.2241. Bibcode:2009ApJ...701..209Z. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/701/1/209.
9. M. Zhao; et al. (2008). "First Resolved Images Of The Eclipsing And Interacting Binary Beta Lyrae". The Astrophysical Journal 684: L95. arXiv:0808.0932. Bibcode:2008ApJ...684L..95Z. doi:10.1086/592146.