Second
star in, looking
left to
right, at the
handle of the
Big Dipper (in
Ursa Major). Alcor is a
hot, white A5V
main sequence star having a
luminosity about 13 times that of the
sun.
Temperature of 8500 K, a
diameter 1.7 times that of the sun,
and a
mass of about 2.2
solar masses. Alcor is a
variable star, of the Delta scuti type.
ALCOR is an
acronym for the
ARPA Lincoln
C-Band
Observables
Radar, a high-power, narrow-beam coherent, chirped monopulse tracking
radar. It is part of the
KREMS radar complex located at
Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Missile Range operated by the US Army in support of
Anti-ballistic missile testing and
space surveillance. It not only measures near-Earth
target velocity, it's C-band allows
simultaneous range and
angle tracking on two targets (if equipped with beacons). It also is the primary
weather measurement radar at Kwajalein, its
data is used to predict the
severity of weather on vehicle re-entry.