Starship Asterisk*

I like to propose hunting an astronomy related object which is only known by me,
when someone knows what object it is, can offer a new object he or she knows and
others start hunting!

Can be expanded to astronomy related phenomenons too!

Will you get money, fame and fortune? No! But I am sure it will be fun!

I start with an easy one (not because I dont want to be hard on you, but I'm not good with physics )

I am orbiting around the sun,
I am in your mouth!

Mind I am not always online, be patient! Lets get going!

can it be a chocolate bar?

Doum wrote:can it be a chocolate bar?

I hope it's that, and not the seventh planet! Or a popular cleaning powder! In parts of the U.S. south, it is common to add dirt to food, or even to consume it by the spoon, so perhaps even the third planet would be a possible answer.

That is an easy one - for anyone who has visited the dentist as many times as I have: Mercury!

Oh dear, now I have to propose one ... ... ... gimme a sec ... ... ... Ah! This'll twist your minds...

Like certain cask carriers, I'm running away.

Rob

OOps! I shouldn't have proposed one yet. I'm supposed to be declared the winner first.

The only 'cask' carriers that i know of, are usually depicted in cold places, and they're all a bunch of woofers.

Ok Rob, ignor my answer to your non-proposed question.

Alkaid in the Big Dipper?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Ursae_Majoris wrote:
The name derives from the Arabic phrase meaning "The leader of the daughters of the bier" (قائد بنات نعش qā'id bināt naʿsh). The daughters of the bier, i.e. the mourning maidens, are the three stars of the handle of the Big Dipper, Alkaid, Mizar, and Alioth; while the four stars of the bowl, Megrez, Phecda, Merak, and Dubhe, are the bier.

Alkaid also has a different proper motion than the other stars in the Big Dipper and is "running away" from them.

Ann

I guess I'm going to assume I won. Be aware that my question may not be so easy to answer, so I'll give you a lot of clues!

We are near-twins.

We are in the same constellation, fairly close, but not one another's binary companions in any way.

We are near-twins in that we are almost equally bright and belong to very similar spectral classes.

We are blue!!!

But we keep splendid red company!

We bear the same (little-known) name!

We bear Greek letter designations in such a way that the Greek letter belonging to one of us comes right behind the Greek letter belonging to the other one of us (in the Greek alphabet, that is).

We are surrounded by beautiful, colorful nebulosity, especially one of us!

We have been described as "arteries" feeding a great red "heart".

Look south to find us!

Ann

rstevenson wrote:That is an easy one - for anyone who has visited the dentist as many times as I have: Mercury!

Oh dear, now I have to propose one ... ... ... gimme a sec ... ... ... Ah! This'll twist your minds...

Like certain cask carriers, I'm running away.

Rob

OOps! I shouldn't have proposed one yet. I'm supposed to be declared the winner first.

The answer is correct

It's Ann's turn if her answer is confirmed by Rob

Actually, Beyond got it. The cask carriers (proverbial only, says Wikipedia) are St. Bernard dogs. And I was thinking of Barnard's Star, which is the fastest moving star in our neighbourhood -- or to put it correctly, it has the largest-known proper motion of any star relative to the Sun.
But I like Ann's take on it too, with Alkaid leading the carriers of a bier or casket. So points to both of them. Besides, Ann's already proposed a test, so we might as well keep on keeping on.

Rob

I wasn't thinking of a star, just the dog that went with the cask. So I'll just palm it off to Ann. She's good at stars, especially blue ones.

Ooops! I absolutely shouldn't have assumed that I won just like that!!!

But you wanted to go on with my question anyway.I think perhaps it is too hard. So here's another clue:

You don't know us, but you do know our red heart - our arachnid heart!

Use a star map (there's Google) to find us near our red heart!

Ann

Still too hard, I think.
Okay! Here's a picture. The "red heart" I've been asking for is yellow here, and it really is yellow, too - objects like this one really are yellow, although we call them red. The yellow "red heart" is bright, and there are extremely few objects like it in the sky. Surely you should be able to find it???

I was asking for the two blue near-twins, the two "arteries" leading to the heart. They have almost identical magnitudes, very similar spectral classes, and the same (little-known) name! Their Greek letter Bayer designations "follow one another" in the Greek alphabet.

C'mon now, google, please!

Ann

Good idea, Moonlady!

My question was too hard, so here is the answer.
The arachnid red (although really yellow) bright "heart" is Antares in Scorpius. It is one of only two bright-looking red (in reality yellow) supergiants in the sky! The other one is Betelgeuse in Orion.

The two "arteries" leading up to it, the near-twins of very similar spectral classes and very similar apparent magnitudes, the blue stars which share the same name, are Sigma Scorpius, magnitude 2.90, a double star whose components are spectral classes B1III + O9.5V, plus Tau Scorpii, magnitude 2.82, spectral class B0V. The Greek letters Sigma and Tau follow each other in the Greek alphabet, and Sigma Scorpius and Tau Scorpius share the same name, Al Niyat, which means "artery".

In the picture, Antares is the bright yellow star slightly below center. Sigma Scorpii is at 3 o'clock, surrounded by both blue and red nebulosity. Tau Scorpii is at 7 o'clock.

Ann

I'm sorry that my question was so hard! Here's a much easier one.

I'm a great dog. I have a pup in tow. But the pup used to be my master!

Ann

Hey Moonlady; If we can't find it! Can we yell ally ally ally oxen free?

Ann wrote:I'm a great dog. I have a pup in tow. But the pup used to be my master!

I suppose that has to be Orion's hunting dog, Canis Major, and the pup Canis Minor. But Google made that Siriusly easy. (Don't ya just love puns!)

Rob

Orin, sure you can! Though I dont know what the line means.

I offer an alternate for the desperate call if we dont know the answer!

Rob, you got it! It was indeed Siriusly easy!

Sirius is the Alpha star of the constellation Canis Major, which means Great Dog.

Sirius is on the left here, with the blue "pup" on the right. The "pup" is a white dwarf. It used to be brighter and more massive than Sirius before it turned into a white dwarf, so it used to be the "master" of Sirius!

Ann

Hey Rob, it's your turn! Or do you want to pass this round?

This looks like good fun - I hope someone proposes the next Who Am , and I will do my best to rack my brains - or Google's - for an answer.
Margarita

Moonlady wrote:Hey Rob, it's your turn! Or do you want to pass this round?

Oops, sorry. I've been busy -- homework, work, home, other non-essentials like that.

I'd better pass since my brain is fried at the moment.

Rob

MOonlady, may I post another question?

Ann

Ann wrote:MOonlady, may I post another question?

Ann

Oh, do, Ann I'm sure Moonlady will agree! But, remember MY level of expertise when you set it
Margarita

PS The level that I am at is shown by the question that I thought up when going to sleep last night,

"They said that the cat killed me, but although dusty I am alive and well"

If it takes you more than two pico-seconds to answer that I will eat my hat

Ehhh...Curiosity?

Okay, here's my next question.
We are twins. In 1838 it was found that we are 10.4 light-years away (we are actually 11,4 light-years away, but never mind!).


Ann