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Antares Red Star
Context:
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bengaluru has filmed the moon passing in front of the bright red star Antares.
What is Antares Star?
- Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii or Cor Scorpii, is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius.
- It is flanked by σ Scorpii and τ Scorpii near the center of the constellation.
- It is often referred to as “the heart of the scorpion,”.
About Antares:
- Brightness and Variability: It is distinctly reddish when viewed with the naked eye.
- Distance: It is located about 170 parsecs (550 light-years) from Earth at the rim of the Upper Scorpius subgroup.
- Stellar Properties: Classified as spectral type M1.5Iab-Ib, Antares is a red supergiant.
- It Antares is approximately 700 times larger than the sun but has a mass only 10 to 15 times greater.
- Its exact size remains uncertain (if placed at the center of the Solar System, it would extend out to somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter).
- Binary System: Antares appears as a single star when viewed with the naked eye, but it is actually a binary star system with two components being
- α Scorpii A (the brighter red supergiant) and α Scorpii B (a fainter hot main sequence star).
