One of the jewels of the summer night shines like a fiery red ruby, glowing in the steam of a teapot and keeping alive a great scorpion. This is Antares, one of the brightest stars of the night.
Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii is approximately 0 magnitude, listed as the 15th brightest in the entire night sky. Appropriately known as the “Heart of the Scorpion,” it is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. You may see it due south just after 10 p.m., during mid-July and in the southwest an hour or so later, with the added advantage of twilight being over.
If you live in mid-northern latitudes, such as we have in Wayne County, Pa. at around 42 degrees north of the equator, you should look fairly low, no more than a quarter of the way up in the sky.
Antares is a red supergiant star with a diameter approximately 800 times that of our Sun. If the Sun were replaced with Antares, its outer surface would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and the cinders of Earth would be deep inside. The star is 600 light years away. The starlight you see tonight left Antares in about 1400 A.D.
A companion star orbits Antares, which appears greenish. Not quite the Christmas Star (Christmas in July?), the colors of this double star can lead to festive thoughts. Unfortunately you need a fairly large backyard telescope and a night of very steady air, to see the companion. Known as Antares-B, the companion is magnitude +5.5 and thus bright enough to be seen with unaided eyes, if the star were not normally lost in the glare of brilliant Antares. Users of small telescopes, however, can see Antares-B when the Moon passes in front of Antares. For a brief moment, it is possible to see only the companion on the very edge of the Moon.
The Greeks named Antares, for “Rival of Mars” due to its reddish hue.
The Lunar Module that took Astronauts Alan Shepard and Joseph Engle to the Moon aboard Apollo 14, in February 1971, was named Antares.
Antares will appear prominent, brighter than any star nearby, but to see it in its full glory you need to be considerably farther south where the star rises much higher in the sky. Any reader of this column who has had opportunity to view the dark starry sky from the tropics or southern hemisphere, is welcome to contact me with your comments on what you saw. From the deep south, not only will Antares appear brighter, the Milky Way Band stands out gloriously if you are away from city lights, the Moon is not present and skies are clear.
In fact, the region of sky just east of Antares (to your left) contains the hub of the Milky Way Galaxy. Here, you are looking right towards the middle of our grand spiral cosmic home. The Milky Way Band is widest and brightest in this area. As was detailed in a previous column, the constellation Sagittarius the Archer lies in front of the Milky Way’s hub, and the constellation’s brighter stars easily resemble a tea pot. The billowing Milky Way Band rises from this tea pot, which you can picture as steam. You need to be at a rural location to witness this.
The stars always will appear somewhat dimmer near the horizon because of atmospheric extinction. When looking low to the horizon you are peering through the thick, dusty and humid layers of our rounded atmosphere as it envelopes around the Earth. For the same reason, the Sun and Moon appear dimmer and redder near the horizon. Unfortunately we must add to this effect, the problem of light pollution most of us face. The glow of far away cities and nearby towns and malls affect the horizon night sky the most. From Wayne County, Pa., even though New York City is 100 miles away, the urban glow is visible low in the southeast.
Last quarter Moon is on July 15. The writer may be contacted at pbecker@wayneindependent.com.
Keep looking up!
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One of the jewels of the summer night shines like a fiery red ruby, glowing in the steam of a teapot and keeping alive a great scorpion. This is Antares, one of the brightest stars of the night.
Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii is approximately 0 magnitude, listed as the 15th brightest in the entire night sky. Appropriately known as the “Heart of the Scorpion,” it is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. You may see it due south just after 10 p.m., during mid-July and in the southwest an hour or so later, with the added advantage of twilight being over.
If you live in mid-northern latitudes, such as we have in Wayne County, Pa. at around 42 degrees north of the equator, you should look fairly low, no more than a quarter of the way up in the sky.
Antares is a red supergiant star with a diameter approximately 800 times that of our Sun. If the Sun were replaced with Antares, its outer surface would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and the cinders of Earth would be deep inside. The star is 600 light years away. The starlight you see tonight left Antares in about 1400 A.D.
A companion star orbits Antares, which appears greenish. Not quite the Christmas Star (Christmas in July?), the colors of this double star can lead to festive thoughts. Unfortunately you need a fairly large backyard telescope and a night of very steady air, to see the companion. Known as Antares-B, the companion is magnitude +5.5 and thus bright enough to be seen with unaided eyes, if the star were not normally lost in the glare of brilliant Antares. Users of small telescopes, however, can see Antares-B when the Moon passes in front of Antares. For a brief moment, it is possible to see only the companion on the very edge of the Moon.
The Greeks named Antares, for “Rival of Mars” due to its reddish hue.
The Lunar Module that took Astronauts Alan Shepard and Joseph Engle to the Moon aboard Apollo 14, in February 1971, was named Antares.
Antares will appear prominent, brighter than any star nearby, but to see it in its full glory you need to be considerably farther south where the star rises much higher in the sky. Any reader of this column who has had opportunity to view the dark starry sky from the tropics or southern hemisphere, is welcome to contact me with your comments on what you saw. From the deep south, not only will Antares appear brighter, the Milky Way Band stands out gloriously if you are away from city lights, the Moon is not present and skies are clear.
In fact, the region of sky just east of Antares (to your left) contains the hub of the Milky Way Galaxy. Here, you are looking right towards the middle of our grand spiral cosmic home. The Milky Way Band is widest and brightest in this area. As was detailed in a previous column, the constellation Sagittarius the Archer lies in front of the Milky Way’s hub, and the constellation’s brighter stars easily resemble a tea pot. The billowing Milky Way Band rises from this tea pot, which you can picture as steam. You need to be at a rural location to witness this.
The stars always will appear somewhat dimmer near the horizon because of atmospheric extinction. When looking low to the horizon you are peering through the thick, dusty and humid layers of our rounded atmosphere as it envelopes around the Earth. For the same reason, the Sun and Moon appear dimmer and redder near the horizon. Unfortunately we must add to this effect, the problem of light pollution most of us face. The glow of far away cities and nearby towns and malls affect the horizon night sky the most. From Wayne County, Pa., even though New York City is 100 miles away, the urban glow is visible low in the southeast.
Last quarter Moon is on July 15. The writer may be contacted at pbecker@wayneindependent.com.
Keep looking up!
