Alpha Leporis
Alpha Leporis (α Lep / α Leporis) is the brightest
star in the
constellation Lepus. It also has the traditional name
Arneb.
Alpha Leporis is an older, dying star that may have already passed through a
supergiant phase and is now contracting and heating up in the latter phases of
stellar evolution, or perhaps is still expanding into the supergiant phase. With a mass of likely less than 10 times that of the
Sun, it will likely end its life as a hot
white dwarf, although if it is at the heavier end of its estimated mass it may end in a spectacular stellar explostion known as a
supernova.
