[wp_eStore_cart_fancy1_when_not_empty] Spica: Astronomy This is the brightest star in the large constellation of Virgo. It marks the ear of wheat she holds. It is the 15th brightest in the sky, a blue giant variable star about 250 light years away. It looks like one star, but it is at least two stars, both larger and hotter than …
[wp_eStore_cart_fancy1_when_not_empty] Sirius: Astronomy At 8.6 light years away, Sirius is one of the closest stars to us and the brightest in the whole sky. Sirius is known as a double star, as it comprises Sirius A which is similar to our Sun (though considerably larger) and Sirius B, much smaller and denser, a white dwarf …
[wp_eStore_cart_fancy1_when_not_empty] Schedar: Astronomy Schedar is the brightest star in the constellation of Cassiopeia, an orange giant about 230 light years away. The star has about five times the mass of the Sun, but is cooler. It’s believed that Schedar takes approximately 102 days to rotate once, in contrast to about 25 days for the Sun. …
Astronomy Procyon is the brightest star in the unusually small constellation of Canis Minor. It lies about 11 light years away and is the eighth-brightest star in the sky. Interestingly it has a white dwarf star orbiting it, very similar to the companion of Sirius, the brightest star in Canis Major. Procyon is coming to …
Astronomy Pollux is a orange-yellow giant star, the brightest in the constellation of Gemini (and the 17th brightest in the sky) even though it has the designation Beta rather than Alpha Gemini, which has been given to Pollux’s twin Castor. In this constellation Castor and Pollux form the heads of the twins, while the remaining …
Astronomy Polaris is our Polestar, the star to which the axis of the planet points in the northern hemisphere. This is true for our age, but not for all ages. For the precession of the equinoxes (the great circle drawn against the background stars over a period of approximately 26, 000 years) means that at …
Astronomy Mirfak (it sometimes also goes by the name Algenib) is is the brightest star in the constellation of Perseus. The star is a yellow supergiant about 550 light years away. It has a mass about 8 times that of the Sun, but has expanded to 60 times the size, while its luminosity is about …
Introduction Welcome to the first session of Anchoring Starlight – Series 3. Below you will find some background information about our first star Merope and, once it is uploaded, the recording of our webinar. It is divided into the talk (with the letter T after the file number) and the inner journey (with the letter J after the …
Astronomy Dubhe (pronounced DOOB-huh or Dubby – take your pick!) is nominally the brightest star in Ursa Major (Alioth, the first star on the Plough’s handle, is slightly brighter). A yellow giant about 120 light years away with a luminosity 300 times that of the Sun, it has a smaller companion that orbits it every 45 years. Someone …
Capella (the little nanny goat) lies about 46 light years away and is the sixth brightest star in the whole sky. Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually a star system of four stars in two pairs. The first pair consists of two bright, yellow giants, both with a diameter around …
Astronomy Betelgeuse (pronounced BETL–jooz), currently the brightest star in the constellation of Orion the Hunter, is about 640 light years away. Currently – because this huge star (also known as Alpha Orionis), is a red supergiant that fluctuates between 300 and 400 times or more the diameter of the Sun, so that around 1850 it was …
Arcturus is the fourth-brightest star in the sky. Its diameter is about 27 times that of the Sun, but its mass is similar. It is thought that several billion years from now our Sun will become like Arcturus. It lies 36 light years away in the constellation of Bootes, the Herdsman. Arcturus means bear-guard, for …
Alcyone is a brilliant star, emitting a thousand time the light of our Sun. Early arabic astronomers gave it names meaning Central One, Bright One and Walnut. For Indians it was Arundhati, wife of Vashishtha or Brahma who with their six sons are the seven rishis who make up the seven stars of the Plough. The name Alcyone was thought by the ancient Greeks be connected with Halcyon, the kingfisher. In one of their myths Alcyone lost her husband in a storm at sea and the gods, taking pity on them both, changed them into kingfishers. Ever since there have been seven days of calm, the halcyon days, around the winter solstice.
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