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StarDate, the longest-running national radio science feature in the U.S., tells listeners what to look for in the night sky.
To have a strong heart, you naturally need strong arteries. And that’s not a problem for Antares, the heart of the scorpion. It’s flanked by two fairly bright stars that historically have shared a name: Alniyat – an Arabic name that means “the arteries.”
The stars probably are siblings of Antares. They all formed from the same giant complex of gas and dust, within the past 10 million years or so.
Alniyat I is also known as Sigma Scorpii. It’s a system of four stars. Two of them form a tight pair, with a third close by. The fourth star is farther out.
Both stars in the tight grouping are much like Antares. They’re many times the mass of the Sun, so they’ll probably end their lives with titanic explosions. Antares is a little farther along its lifecycle, so it’s closer to that showy demise.
Alniyat II is Tau Scorpii. It’s a single star. It, too, is destined to explode as a supernova, but not for several million years – a little later than Antares and the main star of Sigma. On the astronomical clock, though, that’s close – just a few ticks away.
Antares and its arteries are close to the right of the Moon at nightfall this evening. Sigma is close to the right or upper right of Antares. Tau is about the same distance to the lower left of Antares. The arteries aren’t as bright as the scorpion’s heart, though, so you might need binoculars to see them through the glare.
Script by Damond Benningfield
StarDate
StarDate, the longest-running national radio science feature in the U.S., tells listeners what to look for in the night sky.
