http://www.astro.illinois.edu/~jkaler/sow/graffias.html wrote:
GRAFFIAS (Beta Scorpii). <<Graffias, in the head of the celestial Scorpion and Scorpius's Beta star, has at least two names and many more components. "Graffias," meaning "claws," originally referred to the "real" claws that are now in Libra, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali. But in more modern times the name was given first -- and unaccountably -- to obscure Xi Scorpii and then to our star, Beta Scorpii. An equally common name is "Acrab," from Arabic, meaning "the scorpion," older ideas strongly relating crabs with scorpions. Though bright, just at the end of second magnitude, Graffias is still only the sixth brightest star in this brilliant constellation, the Beta designation probably a result of the star's prominent position. It is wonderfully complex. Through a small telescope we see a classic double star, the components 14 seconds of arc apart, similar to the separation of those that make Mizar in the Big Dipper. The brighter and more westerly, Beta-1, is just over the line into third magnitude (2.62), the fainter, Beta-2, is mid-fifth magnitude (4.92). At a distance of 530 light years, the two are at least 2200 astronomical units apart and take over 16,000 years to orbit each other. Both are hot class B stars, Beta-1 the hotter with a temperature of around 27,000 Kelvin, Beta-2 closer to 22,000. Though both should appear blue-white to the eye, the brightness difference makes them look different through the telescope, the fainter one seeming a bit ashen, rather yellowish. The fun begins with closer examination. Beta-1 has a tenth magnitude closer companion only half a second of arc (projected 80 astronomical units) away, so Graffias now seems triple. More, Beta-1 proper (the brighter) is a "spectroscopic binary," the spectrum showing two stars in orbit with a period of 6.8 days, the separation a mere 0.001 seconds, 0.3 AU, closer than Mercury is from the Sun. Still more, Beta-2 has a fainter companion a tenth of a second away from it. Graffias is at least a quintuple star, and there are suggestions of more pieces. All five except perhaps for the faint companion of Beta-2 are hot B stars, vividly showing their propensity for multiple birth. The brightest, the chief star of the Beta-1 triple, is over 20,000 times the solar luminosity (after correction for interstellar dust absorption). What a sight it would be from an "earth" orbiting Beta-1 and its two companions, say at 150 astronomical units where we could survive. We would have a triple Sun, and off in the distance the double Beta-2 would shine 50 times brighter than our full Moon. Both of the Beta-1 close pair are over 10 times as massive as the Sun, and both will probably explode sometime in the next few million years. Scorpius and its neighboring constellations are filled with stars like these. Some of what we know of the system came from a rare occultation (covering) by Jupiter in 1971, Beta-2 by Jupiter's satellite Io.>>
Re: And I looked, and behold a pale horse (APOD 2009 May 21)
I'm sure there are the Whites who will say the Reds are responsible for all the calamities of the world .. whereas the Greens say it's the Blues, blue signifying Conservatives and Capitalists. What colour is Justice?
Re: And I looked, and behold a pale horse (APOD 2009 May 21)
Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 6:07 pm
by NoelC
Last I heard Justice was blind.
-Noel
Re: And I looked, and behold a pale horse (APOD 2009 May 21)
Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 8:05 pm
by neufer
aristarchusinexile wrote:I'm sure there are the Whites who will say the Reds are responsible for all the calamities of the world .. whereas the Greens say it's the Blues, blue signifying Conservatives and Capitalists. What colour is Justice?
The horsehead nebula looks more like a chess piece than a horse.
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Lucy Van Pelt: Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by. If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud's formations. What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus Van Pelt: Well, those clouds to me look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean.[points up]
Linus Van Pelt: That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there[points] gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side.
Lucy Van Pelt: Uh huh. That's very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown: Well... I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie but I changed my mind.
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Re: And I looked, and behold a pale horse (APOD 2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:38 am
by neufer
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Lucy Van Pelt: Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by. If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud's formations. What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus Van Pelt: Well, those clouds to me look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean.
Linus Van Pelt: That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there[points] gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side.
Lucy Van Pelt: Uh huh. That's very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown: Well... I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie but I changed my mind.
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:08 am
by Beyond
Pale, Red and Black... Say... isn't there a horse of a different color missing (50-ft rubber duckies don't count )
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:51 am
by Ann
That Art. He doesn't know a blue horse when he sees one. He must be one of those weird modernist artists who paint the sky green just for the fun of it.
Ann
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:32 pm
by Beyond
Ann wrote:That Art. He doesn't know a blue horse when he sees one. He must be one of those weird modernist artists who paint the sky green just for the fun of it.
Ann
You know Art, the Quotation Artist...
l.jpg (18.49 KiB) Viewed 1378 times
He Quotes Rainbowisticly.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:15 pm
by neufer
Beyond wrote:
Pale, Red and Black... Say... isn't there a horse of a different color missing (50-ft rubber duckies don't count )
Ok... you qwacked me up, but there's no giddy-up there. (interstellar space duckies don't count either!)(Or interstellar dust bunnies)
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:23 pm
by Ann
Beyond, thanks for explaining what possessed Art into posting an image of M11! The Wild Duck Cluster, indeed, but not a particularly yellow one! And not a very rubbery one, either!
I love that Rolling Stones song, or at least I love the video and its visuals!
Finally, some multicolored horses for Artist, the Art! Wonder what kind of nebulae they are?
Ann
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:42 pm
by Beyond
Ann wrote:Beyond, thanks for explaining what possessed Art into posting an image of M11! The Wild Duck Cluster, indeed, but not a particularly yellow one! And not a very rubbery one, either!
I love that Rolling Stones song, or at least I love the video and its visuals!
Finally, some multicolored horses for Artist, the Art! Wonder what kind of nebulae they are?
Ann
Hmm... Looks like a consternation of Quotitian Quotationist clusters, to me.
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 2:36 am
by neufer
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Beyond wrote:
Pale, Red and Black... Say...
isn't there a horse of a different color missing
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:43 am
by Beyond
neufer wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Beyond wrote:
Pale, Red and Black... Say...
isn't there a horse of a different color missing
ha-ha, NOPE! NASA's Chief Crazy Horse isn't the 'horse of a different color' either. If at first quote you don't succeed, quote, quote again.
Re: APOD: IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead (2009 May 21)
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:55 pm
by neufer
Beyond wrote:
neufer wrote:
Beyond wrote:
isn't there a horse of a different color missing
Angel Gymnast
Gangnam Style
ha-ha, NOPE! NASA's Chief Crazy Horse isn't the 'horse of a different color' either.
But "isn't there a horse... missing"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangnam_Style wrote:
<<"Gangnam Style" is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam District of Seoul, where people are trendy, hip and exude a certain supposed "class". PSY likened the Gangnam District to Beverly Hills, California, and said in an interview that he intended in a twisted sense of humor by claiming himself to be "Gangnam Style" when everything about the song, dance, looks, and the music video is far from being such a high class. The song talks about "the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild." In order to keep up with expectations, PSY studied hard to find something new and stayed up late for about 30 nights to come up with the "Gangnam Style" dance. Along the way, he had tested various "cheesy" animal-inspired dance moves with his choreographer, including panda and kangaroo moves, before settling for the horse trot, which involves pretending to ride a horse, alternately holding the reins and spinning a lasso, and moving into a legs-shuffling side gallop.>>
Art (extruding a certain supposed "class") Neuendorffer