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Antares
| Title |
Antares |
| Explanation |
Antares [ http://scienceweb.dao.nrc.ca/astro/skygaze060696.html ] is a huge star. In a class called red supergiant [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1992AJ%2E%2E%2E%2E104%2E%2E821M&db_key=AST&nosetcookie=1 ], Antares is about 700 times the size of our own Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/sun.html ], 15 times more massive, and 10,000 times brighter. Antares [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/6134.html ] is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Scorpius.html ] and one of the brighter stars [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/brightest.html ] in all the night sky. Antares [ http://www.seds.org/billa/twn/antx.html ] is surrounded by a nebula [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1983ApJ%2E%2E%2E275%2E%2E704H&db_key=AST&nosetcookie=1 ] of gas which it has itself expelled. Radiation from Antares [ http://stardate.utexas.edu/radio/StarDateDB.FM$RETRIEVE?value=06/11/1996&field=ScriptAirDate&html=Test+Request+Date ]' blue stellar companion helps cause the nebular gas to glow, as photographed above. Antares [ http://www.travel-net.com/mickey/mh41.html ] is located about 500 light years away. |
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Comet Hyakutake and the Milk
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| Title |
Comet Hyakutake and the Milky Way |
| Explanation |
Two years ago, the Great Comet of 1996 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960208.html ], Comet Hyakutake [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/ ], inched across our northern sky during its long orbit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960314.html ] around the Sun [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html ]. Visible above as the bright spot with the faint tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960326.html ] near the picture [ http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/gco/gco.html ]'s center, Comet Hyakutake [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/comets_long/96B2.html ] shares the stage with part of the central band of the Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970517.html ], prominent in the picture's upper right. Also visible are Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980726.html ], the bright orange star in the upper right, Arcturus [ http://www.windows.umich.edu/the_universe/Arcturus.html ], the bright star on the lower left, and the Pipe Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970621.html ], which is perhaps harder to find. Comet Hyakutake [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/index/Hyakutake.html ]'s unusually close approach [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960325.html ] to the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980204.html ] allowed astronomers to learn many things, including that comets can emit much X-ray light [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960411.html ]. |
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