Constellation Centaurus - the pearl of the southern sky

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The night sky now, like thousands of years ago, magically affects a person, enchants and staggers the imagination with many constellations. Ursa Major, Bootes, Cassiopeia … Everyone knows these names, this is the northern hemisphere. And the southern one: the Big Dog, the Southern Cross, along which sailors have been laying the course of the ship for hundreds of years. And each constellation has its own history, its own legend, just like the well-known constellation Centaurus in the southern hemisphere.

Constellation legend

Centaurus (or centaur) bore the name Chiron and was born by the oceanid Filira from Kronos. He was half man, half horse, as his father Kronos, being caught by his wife Rhea, turned into a horse. Chiron was very different from all other centaurs. He was kinder, wiser. He brought up such heroes of the ancient world as Theseus, Achilles, Jason. Chiron also taught the art of healing the famous Asclepius. This centaur heroically gives his life for the imprisoned Prometheus, granting him immortality. For this act, the gods elevated Chiron to the night sky, immortalized him forever, turning him into the constellation Centaurus.

General information aboutconstellation

As you know, the constellation is located in the southern hemisphere, unfortunately, it cannot be seen from the territory of Russia. More precisely, theoretically, part of it can be seen, but it is so close to the horizon that in fact the Centaurus is practically invisible. The constellation is best observed at latitudes from 26° north to 90° south. It is clearly visible in the first half of spring, namely in March and April. In terms of size, this constellation occupies about 1060 square degrees and is in ninth place.

This cluster of stars in the night sky includes 389 objects. All of them can be viewed without using any optics. Next to Centaurus are other constellations, such as the Wolf, the Ship, the Hydra, the Southern Cross. By the way, even before the 17th century, the Southern Cross was not an independent element of the starry sky, but was part of the constellation Centaurus.

The most famous objects of Centauri

Alpha Centauri, or Rigel Centaurus, is one of the brightest stars in the constellation. It has 0.7 magnitudes and is a whole system consisting of a double star - Alpha and Beta, as well as a red dwarf called Proxima Centauri. In what other constellation is there such a bright star system, and even located so close to our planet? From Proxima to Earth no more than 4.4 light years. No wonder "proxima" is translated as "nearest".

By the way, a large number of wild peoples who once lived in the southern hemisphere were associated with these starsvarious legends and tales. And Alpha Centauri in its spectrum, as well as its specific mass, is very similar to the Sun. Moreover, an Earth-like planet revolves around the star.

Briefly about other stars

In addition to such stars as Alpha and Proxima Centauri, the constellation is also known for other elements. For example, there is also Beta Centauri in it - a star of the first magnitude or, as it is also called, Agena, which means "knee" in translation. Its other name is Hadar (translated as "land"). Like Alpha Centauri, it consists of several stars, but, unlike it, it is located much further from the Earth. Its distance from us is 525 light years.

In terms of brightness, Hadar ranks tenth in the night sky. The third most luminous star in the constellation Centaurus is called Theta. It is also called Menkent, which means "the shoulder of the centaur." Its dimensions are 2.06 magnitudes, it is located at a distance of more than 60 light years from the solar system. It is also worth mentioning such a famous star in this constellation as Lucy, scientifically - BPM 37093. This white dwarf got its name from the song of the Beatles. The song is called "Lucy in Diamond Sky".

Other constellation objects

The constellation also boasts the presence of objects of the so-called deep space. That is, distant star clusters and nebulae. One of these is the globular cluster NGC 5139.can be safely attributed to the most extensive and brightest in the Milky Way galaxy. It contains several million stars that belong to the so-called population 2, that is, those that were first discovered in our starry sky. In the middle of this cluster, some of the stars are spaced less than a tenth of a light-year apart. Also, this cluster of stars is located much closer to the solar system than the others.

Another constellation Centaurus has a galaxy in the form of a lens. Its number is NGC 5128. It has a very low degree of star formation and lies between the spiral and elliptical types of galaxies. It mainly consists of red stars that are at the stage of the last evolution. In terms of brightness, it ranks fifth.

Another nebula to mention is NGC 3918. It is sometimes referred to as the "Southerner" and when viewed through a telescope, it looks like a small blue circle resembling the planet Neptune.

Small conclusion

The Centaurus constellation belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, is one of the longest known constellations, shrouded in myths and legends. But is it the only one in the night sky? How many interesting, new, unknown things are hidden in the starry sky. Its secrets have given rise to a mass of legends and tales. Many astronomical facts are already known to mankind, such as, for example, the history of the origin of our planet. But the question of whether we are alone in the Universe still remains relevant. We have yet to figure this out. Perhaps this will takenot one hundred years. In the meantime, we can only guess about the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.