Event Date: February 14th
Time: 6:30 AM
Happy Valentine's Day, to all it applies to, or acknowledges this day. Before I get back to my regular routine of astro-blogging, I will quickly mention that today is arguably the most popular day (rivaling Christmas) that people want to "buy a star" for their significant other, as well as name one. I don't advocate following through with such temptation. However, if it interests you and you want to do this as a gift for someone, read this first.
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Brief
Getting back to the sky itself, let's take a look at a "heart" star: Antares, of Scorpious. Interestingly enough, there is an arrow being pointed towards this star just one constellation to the east: Sagittarius...mischievously(?) getting ready to shoot in the direction of Scorpious. Don't believe me?? Take a look at the image below, as I include the classical illustrations for the first time... in almost 11 months of blogging online, if I recall correctly anyway! Antares is labeled. The second image shows the stick figures for each, with Scorpious represented much better than Sagitarrius' "Teapot" asterism; that and tail-like string of stars hanging from it, along with branch-like "hairs" pointing up from its top. So much for my terminology!
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click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.
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Detailed
Okay, so I was kidding somewhat in the brief's second sentence, to create a little hype...Sagittarius' arrow as shown, is pointed a little lower than towards Antares; he's no cupid, when it comes to aim, yet he is definitely more interesting looking than a winged baby (er...kid)! That aside, Antares is worth featuring regardless, because it is H.U.G.E. At nearly 2,700 solar radii across, I believe that calculates to hundreds of millions--if not over a billion--stars the size of our Sun able to "fit" into it. Being a red giant, Antares shows its color well when skies are their clearest and the star is high enough out of atmospheric pollution. For this hemisphere, that isn't very high, being a declination about 2º south of the Sun at the December solstice.
Antares is a double star, with a 5th magnitude companion that requires a telescope of about 5 or 6 inches to magnify the duo and resolve the smaller. Taken from the software, I will also mention the following info: "unlike the [primary] giant, the companion appears green in contrast". The companion takes 890 years to go around the primary, which for a double is a very long time, yet not as long as some double-star companions. At 604 light years away, being able to resolve the companion means that it must be far away from the primary, hence the long revolution period.
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