Centaurus
Constellation | |
90 °.Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of May. |
Centaurus
Notable features
Stars
Centaurus contains several very bright stars. Its alpha and beta stars are used as "pointer stars" to help observers find the constellation Crux. Centaurus has 281 stars above magnitude 6.5, meaning that they are visible to the unaided eye, the most of any constellation. Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun, has a high proper motion; it will be a mere half-degree from Beta Centauri in approximately 4000 years.[2]
Alpha Centauri is a
One other first magnitude star Beta Centauri is in the constellation in a position beyond Proxima and toward the narrow axis of Crux, thus with Alpha forming a far-south limb of the constellation. Also called Hadar and Agena, it is a double star; the primary is a blue-hued giant star of magnitude 0.6, 525 light-years from Earth. The secondary is of magnitude 4.0 and has a modest separation, appearing only under intense magnification due to its distance.
The northerly star Theta Centauri, officially named Menkent, is an orange giant star of magnitude 2.06. It is the only bright star of Centaurus that is easily visible from mid-northern latitudes.
The next bright object is Gamma Centauri, a binary star which appears to the naked eye at magnitude 2.2. The primary and secondary are both blue-white hued stars of magnitude 2.9; their period is 84 years.[2]
Centaurus also has many dimmer double stars and binary stars. 3 Centauri is a double star with a blue-white hued primary of magnitude 4.5 and a secondary of magnitude 6.0. The primary is 344 light-years away.[2]
Centaurus is home to many
BPM 37093 is a white dwarf star whose carbon atoms are thought to have formed a crystalline structure. Since diamond also consists of carbon arranged in a crystalline lattice (though of a different configuration), scientists have nicknamed this star "Lucy" after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."[3]
Deep-sky objects
Centaurus is also home to open clusters. NGC 3766 is an open cluster 6,300 light-years from Earth that is visible to the unaided eye. It contains approximately 100 stars, the brightest of which are 7th magnitude. NGC 5460 is another naked-eye open cluster, 2,300 light-years from Earth, that has an overall magnitude of 6 and contains approximately 40 stars.[2]
There is one bright planetary nebula in Centaurus, NGC 3918, also known as the Blue Planetary. It has an overall magnitude of 8.0 and a central star of magnitude 11.0; it is 2600 light-years from Earth. The Blue Planetary was discovered by John Herschel and named for its color's similarity to Uranus, though the nebula is apparently three times larger than the planet.[2]
Centaurus is rich in galaxies as well.
One of the closest
One of the closest galaxy clusters to Earth is the Centaurus Cluster at c. 160 million light-years away, having redshift 0.0114. It has a cooler, denser central region of gas and a hotter, more diffuse outer region. The intracluster medium in the Centaurus Cluster has a high concentration of metals (elements heavier than helium) due to a large number of supernovae. This cluster also possesses a plume of gas whose origin is unknown.[7]
History
While Centaurus now has a high southern latitude, at the dawn of civilization it was an equatorial constellation.
The Greeks depicted the constellation as a centaur and gave it its current name. It was mentioned by
According to the Roman poet Ovid (Fasti v.379), the constellation honors the centaur Chiron, who was tutor to many of the earlier Greek heroes including Heracles (Hercules), Theseus, and Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. It is not to be confused with the more warlike centaur represented by the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius. The legend associated with Chiron says that he was accidentally poisoned with an arrow shot by Hercules, and was subsequently placed in the heavens.[2]
Equivalents
In
Some
The Pointer (α Centauri and β Centauri) is one of the asterisms used by Bugis sailors for navigation, called bintoéng balué, meaning "the widowed-before-marriage". It is also called bintoéng sallatang meaning "southern star".[17]
Namesakes
Two United States Navy ships, USS Centaurus (AKA-17) and USS Centaurus (AK-264), were named after Centaurus, the constellation.
See also
- Centaurus (Chinese astronomy)
- List of brightest stars
References
- Citations
- ^ a b "Centaurus, constellation boundary". The Constellations. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ridpath & Tirion 2017, pp. 110–113.
- ^ "Discovery of largest known diamond". AZoM. February 15, 2004. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
- EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- ^ Müller, a.; et al. "Orbital and atmospheric characterization of the planet within the gap of the PDS 70 transition disk" (PDF). ESO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- ^ Keppler, M.; et al. "Discovery of a planetary-mass companion within the gap of the transition disk around PDS 70" (PDF). ESO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55407-175-3.
- ^ Levy 2005, p. 161.
- ^ Levy 2005, p. 163.
- ^ a b Dalrymple 2013, p. 40.
- ^ a b Dalrymple 2013, p. 41.
- ^ Steinicke 2007, p. 182.
- ^ Babylonian Star-lore by Gavin White, Solaria Pubs, 2008, page 57ff
- ISBN 978-0-486-21079-7.
- ^ "Naming Stars". IAU.org. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- ^ Makemson 1941, p. 281.
- ISBN 978-1-4419-7623-9.
- References
- Centaurus, by Chris Dolan
- C.S. Constellations and Stars
- Constellations, by Richard Dibon-Smith
- Dalrymple, Les (May 2013). "Exploring the M83 Galaxy Group". Sky & Telescope. 125 (5): 38–41. Bibcode:2013S&T...125e..38D.
- Levy, David H. (2005). Deep Sky Objects. ISBN 978-1-59102-361-6.
- Makemson, Maud Worcester (1941). The Morning Star Rises: an account of Polynesian astronomy. Bibcode:1941msra.book.....M.
- Ridpath, Ian; Tirion, Wil (2017). Stars and Planets Guide. London: Collins. ISBN 978-0-69-117788-5.
- Steinicke, Wolfgang (2007), Jakiel, Richard (ed.), Galaxies and How to Observe Them, Springer, ISBN 9781852337520