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8/26/09

Star Gazing

At nightfall tomorrow, August 27, the first-quarter Moon is very near a brilliant bright star ~~~~ the famous red star: Antares A.

If you have never seen Antares before, now is an opportunity; it will be the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius ~~~ red glow at the scorpion’s heart.

Antares is a true red supergiant, which means that it has consumed allof its hydrogen. This huge star is about 700 times the diameter of our own Sun and 10,000 times brighter.

Antares is rather distinctive because of its reddish hue. In fact, it’s commonly mistaken for Mars, a fact shown by its name “Ant-Ares,” which means “like Mars,” with “Ares” being the Greek name for the god of war. (Image credit: AAO/NASA). (thanks to Farmer's Almanac)


And, for fiction buffs: Antares in fiction.


4 comments:

Phyllis said...

Pat,
You have such a beautiful, soul-enriching, inspiring blog. Finally I have been able to explore a little and we have some things in common. A love for May Sarton is one. Also some issues of understanding the brevity of life and how every day is truly a gift if we are willing to pay attention.

I have wanted to go to Maine for many years now. Maybe it is a little like Mendocino where I live some of the time.

I will look for the star if it is not foggy, and I can see it. Thank you for the alert and such a lovely blog!

Pat said...

oh phylis, thank you for your lovely comments on my blog! so much appreciated.

Celeste Maia said...

I wonder if Antares will be visible from here. I will definitely be looking for it. Especially because we will be at an outside theatre tonight, I will let you know. Lovely entry!

Pat said...

Thank you Celeste. Do let me know if you are able to see it.....I will be looking to......and there we'll be: two souls across the Atlantic with a single thought. I like that.

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