Starship Asterisk*

[quote=neufer post_id=310210 time=1611611017 user_id=124483]
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[img3=orin stepanek vs. today's APOD]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/e/e4/Schulz_flipbook_20-1-.jpg[/img3][/float][quote="orin stepanek" post_id=310193 time=1611586308 user_id=100812]

[img3=""]http://asterisk.apod.com/download/file.php?id=38698&t=1&sid=dddfa68e1b6bb5b28fbfdbd3f2249fb6[/img3]

I like the Southern Cross; but I can't help seeing a kite also! :wink: [/quote]
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++ 8-) :mrgreen:

[quote=Ann post_id=310207 time=1611602419 user_id=129702]
[quote=De58te post_id=310205 time=1611598516 user_id=141631]
Out of curiosity, what is that bright star at the base of the volcano, right side. That star looks even bigger than the brightest star Acrux. I've got an old star map from school days long gone by and it says the name is Rigel Kent in the constellation Centaurus. Is this correct?
[/quote]

Rigil Kentaurus is another name for [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri]Alpha Centauri[/url], the nearest star (apart from the Sun) to the Earth.

(Yes, Proxima Centauri may be closer, but it belongs to the Alpha Centauri system anyway. Or it probably does.)

Interestingly, Alpha Centauri A is a star very similar to the Sun, a middle-aged hydrogen-fusing G2V star just like dear old Sol. Just a bit brighter a a tad more massive.

Ann
[/quote]

Ann didn’t explicitly say, but, yes, that star you pointed out really [b][i][size=150]is[/size][/i][/b] Rigel Kent(aurus).

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[img3=orin stepanek vs. today's APOD]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/e/e4/Schulz_flipbook_20-1-.jpg[/img3][/float][quote="orin stepanek" post_id=310193 time=1611586308 user_id=100812]

[img3=""]http://asterisk.apod.com/download/file.php?id=38698&t=1&sid=dddfa68e1b6bb5b28fbfdbd3f2249fb6[/img3]

I like the Southern Cross; but I can't help seeing a kite also! :wink: [/quote]

[quote=De58te post_id=310205 time=1611598516 user_id=141631]
Out of curiosity, what is that bright star at the base of the volcano, right side. That star looks even bigger than the brightest star Acrux. I've got an old star map from school days long gone by and it says the name is Rigel Kent in the constellation Centaurus. Is this correct?
[/quote]

Rigil Kentaurus is another name for [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri]Alpha Centauri[/url], the nearest star (apart from the Sun) to the Earth.

(Yes, Proxima Centauri may be closer, but it belongs to the Alpha Centauri system anyway. Or it probably does.)

Interestingly, Alpha Centauri A is a star very similar to the Sun, a middle-aged hydrogen-fusing G2V star just like dear old Sol. Just a bit brighter a a tad more massive.

Ann

Out of curiosity, what is that bright star at the base of the volcano, right side. That star looks even bigger than the brightest star Acrux. I've got an old star map from school days long gone by and it says the name is Rigel Kent in the constellation Centaurus. Is this correct?

[quote="APOD Robot" post_id=310189 time=1611551250 user_id=128559]
Have you ever seen the Southern Cross?
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Every spring, but never in that position, except the time I visited South Africa.

I did visit southern Chile once, but it was late spring, and I was never awake when the Sun was down.

It may have been on a trip to Bolivia when I realized that I took the Southern Cross for granted. All the other tourists around me were floored and amazed at the sight, and I was like, it’s just the Southern Cross.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXjb5XA9a1g[/youtube]

[attachment=0]SouthernCross_Slovinsky_960_annotated.jpg[/attachment]


I like the Southern Cross; but I can't help seeing a kite also! :wink:

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210125.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_210125.jpg[/img] [size=150]Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous four-star icon is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. The featured image was taken last month in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile]Chile[/url] and captures the [url=https://www.constellation-guide.com/the-southern-cross/]Southern Cross[/url] just to the left of erupting [url=https://youtu.be/gmZ1q9_Cdtg]Villarrica[/url], one of the most active [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villarrica_(volcano)]volcanos[/url] in [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/]our Solar System[/url]. Connecting the reddest Southern Cross star [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gacrux]Gacrux[/url] through the brightest star [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrux] Acrux[/url] points near the most southern location in the sky: the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210101.html]South Celestial Pole[/url] (SCP), around which all southern stars appear to spin [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200701.html]as the Earth turns[/url]. In [url=https://i.ytimg.com/vi/17PkUsTVa7g/maxresdefault.jpg]modern times[/url], no bright star resides near the SCP, unlike in the north where bright [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150602.html]Polaris[/url] now appears near the NCP. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_pole#/media/File:Pole01-eng.jpg]Extending the Gacrux - Acrux line[/url] still further (from about four to about seven times their angular separation) leads near the [url=https://youtu.be/ssQyxCijfr8]Small Magellanic Cloud[/url], a bright satellite galaxy of our [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/]Milky Way Galaxy[/url]. The [url=https://youtu.be/Bw9gLjEGJrw]Southern Cross[/url] [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy)]asterism[/url] dominates the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crux]Crux constellation[/url], a [url=https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/the-southern-cross-signpost-of-southern-skies]deeper array of stars[/url] that includes four [url=https://youtu.be/QcChCeX2VrY]Cepheid variable stars[/url] visible to the unaided eye. Just above the volcano in the image, and looking like a dark plume, is the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula]Coalsack Nebula[/url], while the large red star-forming [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200505.html]Carina[/url] Nebula is visible on the upper left.


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