Constellation Project
MULTIMEDIA REPORT ABOUT
CONSTELLATION CENTAURUS
P
POSITION OF CENTAURUS IN THE SKYe free and is under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License
Right Ascension of Centaurus : 13
hrs 25m 27.6 s
Declination of Centaurus : -50
degrees
Distance From Earth : 4.365
+ - 0.007 ly or 1.338 + - 0.002 pc
Visible between latitudes : 30
and -90 degrees
Best seen in Month : In
May (at 9:00 PM)
Named Stars of
Centaurus
Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha
1 Cen)
AGENA (Beta Cen)
Menkent (Theta
Cen)
Some Details of
Centaurus
Centaurus is the most magnificient of the Southern Constellations. It is
the ninth largest constellation and it contains two of the ten brightest stars.
Centaurus was included among the 48
constellations listed by 2nd century
astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Centaurus
also contains the closest star to the Sun, the best globular cluster, and has
its own meteor shower. It does not contain any Messier objects because the
constellation is too far south for Messier to have seen it. This constellation
represents Chiron who is frequently mentioned in Greek mythology. Chiron was one of the centaurs,
barbarous beasts which were said to be half - horse and half - human.
Centaur contains Alpha and Beta Centauri which are the third and tenth
brightest stars in the sky. Alpha Centauri or Rigel Kentaurius is bright only
because it is close and is the closest star to the sun at 4.3 light years away. Alpha Centauri is a “triple star” system consisting of a bright
“binary star” to which the much
fainter red dwarf proxima centauri is gravitationally bound. Beta Centauri or
Hadar is a blue-white super giant, but later in about 4000
years Alpha Centauri’s motion will carry it quite close to Beta
Centauri and they both will make a magnificent double star, and since Beta
Centauri is just 300 light years away, they will
be an optical double. One of the stars in Centaurus BPM
37093 is a white dwarf whose carbon atoms are thought to have formed a
crystalline structure.
Centaurus also contains the brightest,largest and richest globular
cluster in the sky called Omega Centauri (NGC5139)
which looks like a 4th magnitude
star, and the cluster is larger than the full moon. Centaurus has also its very
own meteor shower called the alpha Centaurids that are best on the 8th of February. This constellation also
contains one of the brightest radio objects in the sky like it consists 20 open clusters and several galaxies including
Centaurus A (NGC 5128) which is a lenticular
galaxy, and Galaxy ESO 325—G004 is also
located in the area of Centaurus. It also contains a significant portion of our
own Milky Way Galaxy, and it contains brighter than 5.5
magnitude over 100 visible stars. All in all
centaurus is a magnificent sight on a balmy spring night, and it reaches
culmination on 30th March, or a pleasant fall evening in the
Southern Hemisphere.
The age of constellation Centaurus is 6
billion years. Mentioned by Eudoxus in the 4th
century BC and Aratus in the 3rd century
BC, Centaurus is an ancient constellation, and it was even more larger in
earlier times. In the 1st century AD,
Ptolemy catalogued 37
stars in Centaurus. While Centaurus now has a high Southern latitude, at
the dawn of civilization it was an equatorial constellation. Precession has
been slowly shifting it southward to millennia, and it is now close to its
maximal southern declination. Thousands of years from now it will, once again
be at lower latitudes and will be visible worldwide.
Details of Named
Stars of Centaurus
1.
Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha 1 Cen)
Rigel Kentaurus also known as the “foot of
the centaur” and has other names like :
RIGIL KENT, Alpha 1 Centauri, HR 5459, HD 128620
Data of Rigel Kentaurus
Right Ascension : 14
hr 39 m 36.495 s
Declination : -6050
Apparent Magnitude : -0.01
Absolute Magnitude : 4.38
Distance From Earth : 4.365
+ - 0.007 ly or 1.338 + - 0.002 pc
B-V + 0.71
Spectral Type : G2V
Spectral Class : GO
--- 6030
Other Facts
about Rigel Kentaurus
Rigel Kentaurus is the 3rd
brightest star in the sky. Rigel Kentaurus is also known as the “foot of the centaur” in arabic mythology. It is
also known as Toliman or Bungula possibly from the Latin word Ungula meaning
“hoof”. Alpha Centauri or Rigel Kentaurius is bright only because
it is close and is the closest star to the sun at 4.3
light years away. “Rigel Kentaurus” or Rigel Kent” is the
first star of Constellation Centaurus. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system
which are -- Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B and Proxima Centauri. The
sunlike Alpha Centauri A and the orange B could have planets. Whereas Proxima
is a Red Dwarf and a flare star, which from time to time shows intense bursts. Placed
well down in the Southern Hemisphere, in fact Alpha Cen is the most southerly
of naked eye stars, but it cannot be seen above about 30
degrees north latitude, thus making it one of the great luminaries of
the Southern Hemisphere. Given Alpha Cen’s mass and higher age, the star
maybe close to running out of hydrogen fuel. Alpha Centauri has yet another
star member, a faint eleventh magnitude (11.05)
companion called “Proxima” that
is huge 2 degrees away from Alpha, and that
orbits with a period of at least million years. As a mid-class M (M5.5) Dwarf star
Proxima is indeed very faint, to the eye, at least 20,000
times dimmer than the Sun.
Alpha Centauri is a yellow star with a spectral type G2, same as the Sun’s. Therefore its
temperature and color also match those of the Sun. Alpha Centauri B is an
orange star with spectral type of K1. Whereas
Alpha Centauri A and B are stars like the Sun. Proxima is a dim Red-Dwarf with
a spectral type of M5 –
much fainter, cooler, and smaller than the Sun. Proxima wasn’t discovered
until 1915 by astronomers because it was very dim
star.
ALPHA CENTAURI A
ALPHA CENTAURI B
Spectral Class : G2 Spectral
Class : K4
Visual
Magnitude : 0.01 Visual
Magnitude : 1.34
Luminosity
: 1.567*
Sun Luminosity
: 0.460*
Sun
Mass
: 1.1*
Sun Mass
: 0.85*
Sun
PROXIMA CENTAURI
Spectral Class : M5e
Visual
Magnitude : 11.05
Luminosity
: 0.0000555*
Sun
Mass
: 0.123*
Sun
INTERESTING FACT ABOUT ALPHA CENTAURI
Visible only from latitudes south of about 25 degrees N, the star we call Alpha Centauri lies 4.35 light-years
from
the Sun. But it is actually a triple star system. Whereas Alpha Centauri
A and B are stars like the Sun, Proxima is a dim
red dwarf with a spectral type of M5 - much
fainter, cooler, and smaller than the Sun. Proxima is so faint that astronomers
did not discover it until 1915. As regards the
size of the system, alpha Cen A is a double star with a period of 79.9 yrs. Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to
us, is 4 1/3 light years away.
That’s pretty close compared to the rest, Polaris, the North Star, is 1,000 light years away.
2. AGENA (Beta Cen) or HADAR
Beta Cen is also known as the “Settled Land”
and has other names like :
HADAR, BETA CENTAURI, AGENA, HR 5267, HD 122451
Data of Beta Centauri
Right Ascension : 14hrs
03 m 49 s
Declination : -6022
Apparent Magnitude : 0.64
Absolute Magnitude : -4.57
Distance From Earth : 350
+ - 10 ly or 108 + - 3 pc
B-V -0.23
Spectral Type : B1
III
Spectral Class : B1
---25400
OTHER FACTS ABOUT
BETA CENTAURI
Beta Centauri is a system of three blue stars namely HADAR A1, HADAR A2
and HADAR B, and HADAR A1 and HADAR A2 are the two bigger ones that make narrow
pair of nearly identical stars. Beta Cen or Hadar is at a distance of 525 light years or 161
pasecs and is of age 12 million years. But
more recent estimates place the distance of the system to closer to 350 light years or 107
parsecs. HADAR A1 and HADAR A2 are of the same spectral class B1 and B8 is the
spectral class of HADAR B star. Hadar is the 10th
brightest star in the sky. Hadar is a blue-white super giant and in about 4,000 years, the proper motion of Alpha Centauri will
carry it close enough to Beta Centauri that they will appear to be a
magnificient double star. Since Beta Centauri is 300 light years away, they
will be an optical double. At present, the two stars look like two eyes, the
right one (Beta) distinctly blue. These two stars are called the “Pointer Stars” since they point to the Southern
Cross to the West. Some of the Australian Aboriginals call them “The Two
Men That Once Were Lions”. Other aboriginals call them the twins that
created the world. In 1935, J. G. Voute identified Beta Centauri as a double
star, giving it the identifier VOU 31. Beta Centauri is not one star, but three. About a second of arc
away from companion star, Beta Centauri B, poses a difficult telescopic sight..
Analysis from the light of Beta Centauri B reveals that it is a very close binary
star. Thus the star seen as a single point of light to the human eye is in fact
triple.
Beta Centauri is a B1 III star which means that it is very hot and very large. The
“III” classification means that it is a giant star, rather
than a main sequence star like our sun. Giants and super giants have left the
main sequence, and have entered into the terminal stages of star life. These
stars still may have tens of millions of years left, but this is short by
comparison to the billions of years a star like the sun spends in its adult
life –- i.e. its life
classified as a main sequence star.
The name Hadar comes from the Arabic word for “ground” while the name
Agena comes Latin words for the “Knee”.
INTERESTING FACT ABOUT BETA CENTAURI
Sophisticated
observations that rely on the interference properties of light, shows that
Hadar A (the
brighter
of the two) consists of a pair of identical
stars that orbit each other with a period of 357 days.
3. MENKENT (Theta Cen)
This star is also known as an Arabic name Menkent “Shoulder of the Centaur” and has other names
like :
THETA CENTAURI, HR 5288, HD 123139
Data of Theta Centauri
Right Ascension : 14hrs
06 m 41 s
Declination : -3622
Apparent Magnitude : 2.06
Absolute Magnitude : +0.70
Distance : 60.9
+ - 0.9 ly or 18.7 + - 0.3 pc
B-V +0.01
Spectral Type : KO
IIIb
Spectral Class : KO
---- 4534
OTHER FACTS
ABOUT THETA CENTAURUS
Star Theta Centauri is also known as an Arabic name Menkent “Shoulder of the Centaur”. It is an orange K-type
giant with an apparent magnitude is of +2.06 and is approximately 60.94 light
years away from Earth.
GALAXY CENTAURUS A
Centaurus A is a very large and
peculiar
galaxy, with a supermassive central black
hole and a pair of radio and X-ray bright jets which appears to
be a giant elliptical that has recently merged with a barred spiral neighbor.
SOFI, NTT,
Roughly bisecting
Centaurus A are
the remains of a
smaller galaxy that
was consumed by the large elliptical galaxy between 200 and 700 million
years ago
Centaurus A also known as NGC 5128 is a
lenticular galaxy about 11 million light years
away in the constellation Centaurus. It is one of the closest radio galaxies to
Earth. Although the galaxy is visible from low North latitudes and the Southern
Hemisphere this galaxy is also the 5th
brightest galaxy in the sky. A relativistic jet which extracts energy from the
vicinity from what is believed to be a supermassive black hole at the center of
the galaxy is responsible for emissions in the X-ray and radio wave lengths. By
taking radio observations of the jet separated by a decade, astronomers have
determined that the inner parts of the jet are moving at about one-half of the
speed of light. X-rays are produced farther out
as the jet collides with surrounding gasses resulting in the creation of the
highly energetic particles. A collision is responsible for the intense burst of
star formation as observed in other starburst galaxies. Using the Spitzer Space
Telescope scientists confirm that Centaurus is going through a galaxy collision
by devouring a spiral galaxy.
MORPHOLOGY of CENTAURUS A
Centaurus A have a peculiar morphology. From Earth the galaxy looks like
a lenticular or elliptical galaxy with a superimposed dust lane. The
peculiarity of this galaxy was first identified in 1847 by John Herschel, and
the galaxy was included in the “Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies”
(published in 1966) is one the best examples of a “disturbed”
galaxy with dust absorption. The galaxy’s strange morphology is generally
recognized as the result of a merger between two smaller galaxies. The bulge of
this galaxy is comprised mainly of evolved red stars. The dusky disk, however,
has been the site of more recent star formation, and over 100 star formation
regions have been identified in the disk. One Supernova named SN 1986G have
been detected in Centaurus A constellation. In 1986 by R. Evans this supernova was
discovered within the dark dust lane of the galaxy, which was later identified
as a type 1a supernova. This type of supernova forms when a white dwarf’s
mass grows large enough to ignite carbon fusion in its center, touching off a
runaway thermonuclear reaction, as may happen when a white dwarf in a binary
star system strips gas away from the star. SN 1986G
was used to demonstrate that the pectra type 1a supernova may differ in the way
that they change in brightness over time.
DATA OF CENTAURUS A GALAXY
|
Right Ascension |
13 : 25.5 (h:m) |
|
Declination |
-43 : 01 (deg:m) |
|
Distance |
15000.0 (kly) |
|
Visual Brightness |
7.0 (mag) |
|
Apparent Dimension |
18 x 14 (arc min) |
NEARBY GALAXIES AND GALAXY GROUP INFORMATION
Centaurus is at the center of one of two subgroups within the Centaurus
A/M83 group which is a nearby group of galaxies. Messier 83 (the Southern
Pinwheel Galaxy) is at the center of the other subgroup. These two groups
sometimes identified as one group and sometimes as two groups. However, the
galaxies around Centaurus A and the galaxies around M83 are physically close to
each other, and both subgroups appear not to be moving relative to each other.
The Centaurus A/M83 group is located in the VIRGO supercluster.
AMATEUR ASTRONOMY INFORMATION
Centaurus A is located approximately 4 degrees north of Omega Centauri
which is a globular cluster seen with a naked eye. Because the galaxy has high
surface brightness and a relatively larger angular size, it is an ideal target
for amateur astronomy observations. The bright central bulge and dark dust lane
are even in finderscopes and large binoculars, and additional structure may be
seen in larger telescopes. Centaurus A has been spotted with the naked eye by
Stephen James O’Meara.
INTERESTING
FACT ABOUT CENTAURUS A GALAXY
The main body of Centaurus A has all characteristics of a large
elliptical, but a pronounced dust belt is superimposed well over the center,
forming a disk plane around this galaxy. This galaxy seems to
have "eaten" at least one larger
spiral in the last few billion years. However, the present author is not sure
if this alone explains the unique appearance of this galaxy: It may well be
that this is one of the rare "links"
between "normal" ellipticals and
"normal" disks. In 1826 James Dunlop discovered
this galaxy.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ø First constellation Figure of Centaurus copied from
Juergen Kummer’s pages , Type this link --
http://jumk.deastronomie/constellations/index.shtml
Also this figure is accessible at Wikipedia
Ø Second constellation Figure of Centaurus copied from
Type
in google “picture of centaurus constellation”, then see under caption “Chandra Photo Album Constellation Centaurus” , also if you type and follow the link – www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/centaurus.html
you will be able to see the figure if you scroll down a
little bit more.
Johannes
Hevelius' Centaurus from Uranographia
(1690) [ Figure ]
Ø Data and Position of Centaurus in the sky and Named Stars info is copied
from
Dolan’s
pages , Type this link
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations
On Dolan’s page, see under heading Constellations (alphabetical) , then click on Centaurus among
other listings and then see under the heading “Position
in the Sky” and then see under heading “Named stars”.
Ø
Details of Centaurus is partially
from
Dolan’s
pages , Type this link
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations
But the first half of the information is mostly taken from
Type in google -- “centaurus constellation” then see under
“Centaurus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” or you could follow
this link www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus
Ø To accesses the figure of Centaurus type in google -- “centaurus constellation” then see
under the heading “Chandra Photo Album
Constellation Centaurus” then when you
reach the page scroll down and you will be able to see the figure of
constellation centaurus. You can also type this link –
www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/centaurus.jpg
Ø Rigel Kentaurus or Data of Rigel Kentaurus
Information accessed from --
Dolan’s
pages , Type this link
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations
Ø
Details of Alpha Centauri or Rigel
Kentaurus
Initial Information accessed from –
Dolan’s
pages , Type this link
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations
Later information accessed from –
Constellations from Jim Kaler’s STARS pages, or type this link –
http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/const/html
Ø Last paragraph of Alpha Centauri accessed from
Type in Google – “Interesting
fact about Alpha Centauri” then see under the heading “Alpha
Centauri”, then on that page scroll down to the Answer
of the asked question and there is the second
paragraph from which I picked up information. You could also follow the link –
www.imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/.../970717b.html
Ø
Interesting Fact About Alpha Centauri
accessed from
Type in Google – “Interesting
fact about Alpha Centauri” then see under the heading “Alpha
Centauri” , then on that page scroll down to the Answer
of the asked question and there is the first paragraph
from which I picked up information. You could also follow the link –
www.imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/.../970717b.html
Ø
Data of Beta Centauri accessed from
Dolan’s
pages , Type this link
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations
Details of Beta Centauri accessed from –
Juergen Kummer’s pages , Type this link --
http://jumk.deastronomie/constellations/index.shtml
Ø Then go to the list of constellations and then click under
Centaurus which will take you to the list of stars in the constellation. Upon
clicking under star Hadar I got my very initial information and also about HADAR A1, A2 and HADAR B. Then rest of the
information is taken from google, type in Google – “beta centauri
wiki” then see under the heading “Beta Centauri – Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia” or follow the link –
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Centauri
Ø Last paragraph of Hadar is accessed from
Type in Google – “distance of hadar from
earth” and then see under heading
“Hadar : Southern pointer star /EarthSky” then after reaching the
page scroll down to the header Science and there is those paragraphs I picked
up information about Hadar, or follow the link –
www.earthsky.org/tonightpost/.../only-southerners-can-enjoy-hadar
Ø Interesting Fact About Beta Centauri
Information grabbed from google, so type in Google – “interesting fact about beta
centauri” then see under heading “Beta
Centauri : Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article” and
on that page scroll down, and I have grabbed information from under the header Encyclopedia 4th
paragraph 2nd line, or you could
follow the link – www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Beta_Centauri
Ø About Star MENKENT (Theta Cen)
Initial and Data Information accessed from --
Dolan’s
pages , Type this link
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations
Ø Other Facts About Theta Cen or Menkent
Information taken from google, so type in Google
– “theta centauri wiki”
and there is only two line information about theta centauri so I just typed in
what information I received, or you could follow the link –
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta_Centauri
Ø Pictures of Centaurus A galaxy
Type in google – “picture of centaurus galaxy wiki” then
on the very right hand side is the picture of the galaxy with information of
the figure, or if you want to follow the link –
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A
Ø
Data table of Centaurus A Galaxy
Type in Google – “interesting fact about centaurus galaxy”
then see under heading “NGC 5128 (Centaurus
A)” on that page the first information is the table. You can also
accesses by following this link –
www.maa.clell.de/Messier/E/Xtra/NGC/n5128.html
Ø
About Centaurus A Galaxy Detail
Information
Information of Centaurus A galaxy accessed from google, so type in Google
– “centaurus galaxy wiki” then
see under all the headings as I have accessed information from all of them. You
can also follow this link –
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A
Ø Interesting Fact About Centaurus A Galaxy
Type in Google – “interesting
fact about centaurus galaxy” then see under the heading “NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)” and this is where I
stole some information regarding this galaxy, or you could follow the link –
www.maa.clell.de/Messier/E/Xtra/NGC/n5128.html
For the figure of Galaxy type in Google –
“picture of centaurus galaxy”
then see under the “Image results for picture of centaurus galaxy,
it’s the 4th picture among other images, or follow the link –
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1276_prt.htm