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Sirius, Mimosa & Ursa Major . By: Windell Barfield & Landris Baggs. Sirius . Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky! Sirius is derived from the ancient Greek Seirios . Which means glowing or scorcher. The Bayer designation is Alphus Canis Majoris .
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Sirius, Mimosa & Ursa Major By: Windell Barfield & LandrisBaggs
Sirius • Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky! • Sirius is derived from the ancient Greek Seirios. Which means glowing or scorcher. • The Bayer designation is AlphusCanisMajoris. • Sirius is also located in a Binary star system. It’s next to Sirius B (White Dwarf) • Sirius is classified as a “rainbow” star because it flickers with many colors. • Sirius is well known as the dog star because it is the chief star in Canis Major. • 8.6 Light-years away and is one of the nearest stars after the sun. • Classified to astronomers as a class A- type star. Much hotter than our own sun.
Sirius Contd. • Sirius’s location is: 6 Hours & 45 Minutes; -16°.
Mimosa • Beta Crucis, also known as Mimosa/Becrux, is the second brightest star in the constellation of Crux. • So far to the south as to be unfamiliar to the ancient Greeks and Romans, this star does not have a classical name. • German astronomer Johann Bayer (1572-1625) is said to have given it the name Mimosa, which apparently is derived from the Latin word for a mime or farcical actor. • The Cross is a southern hemisphere constellation, and you will not see Mimosa north of 30 degrees north latitude. That is approximately north of a line that runs from St. Augustine, Florida to New Orleans and Austin. • About 353 light-years from Earth, Mimosa has a visual magnitude or 1.25.
Mimosa continued….. • It is a giant (or sub giant) blue star, which is more than 3,000 times brighter than are own star. • Mimosa is blue…. and as such is very, very, very hot. • Mimosa is thought to have a radius about 8 times that of the sun, and a mass 14 times greater. However, these figures are not certain because it is also known that Mimosa has a small stellar companion about which little is known. • Since all we can observe is the combined light of both, it is difficult to be precise on all these details. • Mimosa’s position is RA: 12h 47m 44s, dec: -59° 41′ 19″.
Ursa Major • Means Large bear • Visible usually throughout the whole year. • Holds the big dipper. • Declination in the night sky of Dec: 10hr. 53 min. • RA: 55 degrees • 80 lightyears away. • Alioth is the brightest star in Ursa Major. • 3rd largest constellations in the sky. • Zeus turned Hera his wife into a bear and threw her in the sky.