"The Devil's Diamond": Star Sigma Scorpii
Sigma Scorpii (Alniyat or σ Scorpii, abbreviated Sigma Sco or σ Sco), is a multiple star system in the constellation of Scorpius, located near the red supergiant Antares that outshines it. This system has a combined apparent visual magnitude of +2.88, making it one of the brighter members of the constellation. Distance is roughly 696 light-years (214 parsecs).
Alniyat (Sigma Scorpii) is classified as a Beta Cephei variable. Beta Cephei variables, also known as Beta Canis Majoris stars, are variable stars that exhibit small rapid variations in their brightness due to pulsations of the stars' surfaces, thought due to the unusual properties of iron at temperatures of 200,000 K in their interiors. These stars are usually hot blue-white stars of spectral class B. Alniyat is part of a double-lined spectroscopic binary system. It is a main sequence star of the spectral type B1 V with a mass of 11.9 solar masses and a radius 9 times that of the Sun. It shines with around 16,000 solar luminosities. The two stars complete an orbit every 33 days.
strongmanmike2002: "Within the Rho Ophiuchus Nebula complex there is a faint but interesting bit of, mostly (Red) Halpha nebulosity, surrounding the bright blue giant star, Sigma Scorpii, which to my eye at least, makes it look like a bright diamond in Hell. I think there is a small amount of blue reflection nebulosity around SigScorpii, but without a lot more blue data to make it stronger, it gets drowned out by the glare of Sigma Scorpii and the flood of red HII in the vicinity."
Release Date: July 17, 2025
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #BinaryStarSystems #SigmaScorpii #BetaCepheiVariables #Scorpius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #StrongmanMike2002 #CitizenScience #EagleviewObservatory #Australia #STEM #Education
No comments:
Post a Comment