APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

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APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:07 am

Image Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano

Explanation: 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 Chile and captures the Southern Cross just to the left of erupting Villarrica, one of the most active volcanos in our Solar System. Connecting the reddest Southern Cross star Gacrux through the brightest star Acrux points near the most southern location in the sky: the South Celestial Pole (SCP), around which all southern stars appear to spin as the Earth turns. In modern times, no bright star resides near the SCP, unlike in the north where bright Polaris now appears near the NCP. Extending the Gacrux - Acrux line still further (from about four to about seven times their angular separation) leads near the Small Magellanic Cloud, a bright satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. The Southern Cross asterism dominates the Crux constellation, a deeper array of stars that includes four Cepheid variable stars visible to the unaided eye. Just above the volcano in the image, and looking like a dark plume, is the Coalsack Nebula, while the large red star-forming Carina Nebula is visible on the upper left.

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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by orin stepanek » Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:51 pm

SouthernCross_Slovinsky_960_annotated.jpg

I like the Southern Cross; but I can't help seeing a kite also! :wink:
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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:00 pm

APOD Robot wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:07 am Have you ever seen the Southern Cross?
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.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.

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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by De58te » Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:15 pm

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?

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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by Ann » Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:20 pm

De58te wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:15 pm 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?
Rigil Kentaurus is another name for Alpha Centauri, 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.

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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by neufer » Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:43 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:51 pm

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

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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by johnnydeep » Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:17 am

Ann wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:20 pm
De58te wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:15 pm 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?
Rigil Kentaurus is another name for Alpha Centauri, 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
Ann didn’t explicitly say, but, yes, that star you pointed out really is Rigel Kent(aurus).
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Re: APOD: Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano (2021 Jan 25)

Post by orin stepanek » Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:44 am

neufer wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:43 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:51 pm

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

++ 8-) :mrgreen:
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

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