Wednesday, July 24, 2024

The Head of the Eagle (all night)

The most southerly of the Summer Triangle's corners is marked by Altair - the head of the great eagle Aquila. At only 16.8 light-years distant, Altair is
one of the nearest bright stars (magnitude 0.75) - so close that its surface has been imaged! The star also seems to be spinning 100 times faster than our sun, probably generating an equatorial bulge. The magnitude 2.7 star Tarazed (or Gamma Aquilae) is positioned 2→ north-northwest of Altair. This orange, K3II- class star is 395 light-years-away. It is young, but highly evolved - already burning core helium. Magnitude 3.7 Alshain is located 2.7→ south- southeast of Altair. This 44.7 light-years-away, yellowish G8IV-class star has also exhausted its core hydrogen and is evolving into a giant. Those two stars sit on either side of Altair, like an old-fashioned scale balance, the device those names derive from.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (954:895/61)