Homam

One of a trio of stars that mark out the head of Pegasus, the constellation of the Flying Horse, with the other two stars being Enif and Biham, or Epsilon and Theta Pegasi respectively. The origins of the name Homam for this star are not completely clear, but the most prevalent suggestion is that the name originated as a contraction of Arabic Sa'd al Humam, the 'lucky (star) of the hero'.

Homam is usually classified as a main sequence star, though it is a great deal more massive and luminous than the Sun, and may possibly be evolving into the subgiant phase of its lifecycle. Its diameter is some four times that of the Sun, and the temperature at its surface, estimated at more than 11,000 K, is approximately twice the equivalent temperature of the Sun. Homam is a pulsating variable star whose luminosity changes to a barely detectable degree over a period of some 22.95 hours.

Homam lies a little over two hundred light years from the Solar System, and shines with an apparent magnitude of +3.42. Its absolute magnitude is -0.56 (which means that, if it lay ten parsecs from the Solar System, it would be among the brightest stars in Earth's sky). Homam does not appear to have any directly related companion stars, though it does possess at least two optical companions - that is, stars lying on a very close line of sight as seen from Earth, but not actually part of the Homam system.