Below the stars of Hydra (the Sea Serpent) and Scorpius (the Scorpion)
you can find Centaurus. Centaurus has the figure of a half-man,
half-horse creature. It faces east holding a lance which he is using
to defend himself from Lupus (The Wolf).
Centaurus' brightest star is called Toliman or Rigel Kentaurus. Toliman is the third brightest star in the sky and is the closest star to the Sun. In Centaurus you can also see a a hazy spot which is really a group of stars called a globular cluster. The cluster's name is Omega Centauri. Through a small it looks like a fuzzy ball almost the same size of the Full Moon.
According to a Greek myth, it was Centaurus who first grouped the
stars into constellations. He also taught man how to read the sky.
Centaurus placed a picture of himself in the sky to guide a group of
sailors called the Argonauts.
Below the stars of Hydra (the Sea Serpent) and Scorpius (the Scorpion)
you can find the figure of the half-man, half-horse creature of
Centaurus. It faces east holding a lance-like pole which he is using
to kill Lupus (The Wolf) in front of him.
Centaurus' brightest star (Alpha Centauri), is called Toliman or Rigel Kentaurus, is the third brightest star in the sky and the closest star to the Sun. Alpha Centauri is really a triple star: two components form a double star. The third component is a red dwarf, more than 2 degrees away from the bright pair. It is called Proxima Centauri (closest in Centaurus) because, of the three components, it is the closest to Earth.
Centaurus harbors, Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), the brightest and largest globular cluster in the sky. It is visible to the naked eye as a hazy spot. It is one of the closest globular clusters to Earth.
According to a Greek myth, it was Centaurus who first grouped the
stars into constellations. He also taught mankind how to read the
sky. Centaurus placed a picture of himself in the sky to guide a
group of sailors called the Argonauts.
Below the stars of Hydra (the Sea Serpent) and Scorpius (the Scorpion)
you can find the figure of the half-man, half-horse creature of
Centaurus. It faces east holding a lance-like pole which he is using
to kill Lupus (The Wolf) in front of him.
Centaurus' brightest star (Alpha Centauri), is called Toliman or Rigel Kentaurus, is the third brightest star in the sky with a magnitude of -0.27 and the closest star to the Sun. Alpha Centauri is really a triple star: bright components A (magnitude -0.04) and B (magnitude 1.17) form a double star. The third component is a red dwarf (magnitude 10.7), more than 2 degrees away from the bright pair. It is called Proxima Centauri (closest in Centaurus) because, of the three components, it is the closest to Earth: 4.28 light-years.
Centaurus harbors Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), the brightest and largest globular cluster in the sky. It is visible to the naked eye as a hazy spot of 4 minutes of arc. It is one of the closest globular clusters, at only 17,000 light-years away.
According to Greek mythology, it was Centaurus who first fashioned the
constellations and taught mankind how to read the sky. He placed a
picture of himself in the sky to guide the Argonauts on their search
for the Golden Fleece.
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