View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Victor C. Rogus in Sedona, Arizona, captured this telescopic view of the star Bellatrix on November 15, 2020. Many eyes were turned toward this star then because Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) was near it and just past its closest to Earth. Thank you, Victor.
Bluish-white Bellatrix – aka Gamma Orionis – is the third-brightest star in the easy-to-recognize constellation Orion the Hunter. This star marks the left shoulder of Orion; a brighter star, reddish Betelgeuse, marks the Hunter’s right shoulder. Another brighter star, Rigel, marks the Hunter’s left foot.
In the month of November, Orion is just coming back to a convenient viewing time in the evening sky. You’ll find it in your sky between your local sunset and your local midnight. Try Stellarium to find out exactly when Orion rises over your eastern horizon.
The constellation Orion is easy to spot. Three medium-bright stars in a short, straight row – known as Orion’s Belt – marks its mid-section. Betelgeuse and Rigel are Orion’s brightest stars, and Bellatrix is 3rd-brightest.
A print of the copperplate engraving for Johann Bayer’s Uranometria (1661) showing the constellation Orion. Image via U.S. Naval Observatory Library/ Wikimedia Commons.
Bellatrix in lore and culture
In popular culture today, many know the name Bellatrix as J.K. Rowling’s dark witch, Bellatrix Lestrange, in the Harry Potter fantasy book and film series. Rowling frequently employed names from astronomy for important characters in her series: Sirius, Andromeda, Cygnus, Draco and Luna, among others.
In the history of the sky, Bellatrix comes from Latin and means female warrior. Bellatrix is also sometimes called the Amazon Star.
According to Jim Kaler, before Orion’s bluish-white shoulder star carried the name Bellatrix, that name belonged to a different star. The golden star Capella carried the name Bellatrix in medieval times.
Star chart showing the constellation Orion the Hunter and its brightest stars, via IAU/ Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg, Sky & Telescope/ Wikimedia Commons.
The brightness of Bellatrix, and surrounding nebulosity
Rigel and Betelgeuse are generally considered the sky’s eighth and 11th brightest stars, with magnitudes (brightnesses) of 0.13 and 0.50 respectively. Bellatrix is the sky’s 26th brightest star, approximately (estimates vary depending on the source), and its magnitude vacillates between 1.59 and 1.64.
While Bellatrix has an apparent magnitude of 1.64, it has an absolute magnitude of -3.3. Apparent magnitude is a measure of how bright things look to an observer, or how bright it “appears.” Absolute magnitude is a star’s intrinsic brightness. All stars’ absolute magnitudes are measurements of how bright they would be if they were 10 parsecs (32 light-years) away from Earth. Absolute magnitude is not a term observers often use; it’s more used in the scientific community when making a comparison between stars. Consider the star Saiph, representing the knee opposite Bellatrix’s shoulder star in Orion. Saiph “appears” dimmer than Bellatrix, and its apparent magnitude is 2.05. But Saiph’s absolute magnitude is -6.8! You can probably guess that this means Saiph is much farther away from us than Bellatrix, and you’d be right. Bellatrix is 303 light-years from Earth while Saiph is 1,826 light-years away!
Bellatrix appears to have a white or bluish-white hue. When viewed through binoculars or a telescope, you might pick up a gaseous glow surrounding it.
The glow does not originate with Bellatrix itself but with its location within the great Orion Molecular Cloud complex, a star-forming region in the same direction in space as the constellation Orion. In Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Volume Two, Robert Burnham wrote:
A faint diffuse nebulosity surrounding [Bellatrix], shown on the Skalnate Pleso Atlas, is merely an illuminated portion of the general nebulous haze which envelops much of Orion, and which naturally becomes visible in the vicinity of any highly luminous star.
Similar masses of nebulous haze are scattered across the entire region to the south of Bellatrix, culminating in the splendor of the Great Nebula itself.
A long-exposure telescope image of the Orion Molecular Cloud complex, a star-forming region. This region permeates the sky in the direction of Orion. See Orion’s 3 Belt stars, and Betelgeuse, Rigel and Bellatrix? This photo – taken by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in October 2010 – appeared as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on October 23, 2010. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Science of Bellatrix
Bellatrix is in spectral class B2 III. B stars are on the brighter, hotter and whiter end of the spectrum, and the number 2 means it is an early type compared to a larger number. The III denotes that it is a giant star, although Jim Kaler of the University of Illinois has said that Bellatrix in not an actual giant, but just has the spectral signature of a giant. He asserts that Bellatrix is probably a hydrogen-fusing dwarf, still on its way to the true giant stage.
At nine times the mass of our sun, Bellatrix could be a supernova candidate, but – if that doesn’t occur – it will become a massive white dwarf. Bellatrix may have a companion in Gamma Orionis B, a red dwarf that for the past 100-plus years has maintained a constant separation of 178 arcseconds. But Bellatrix’s possible companion star is not close enough for its matter to flow into Bellatrix and trigger a supernova.
Bellatrix is one of the hottest stars that you can see without optical aid. It has a temperature of 21,750 Kelvin (38,690 F). Compare that to our sun, which is a mere 5,778 Kelvin (about 10,000 F).
Bellatrix may be six times the size of our sun.
Skywatchers know Orion as a hallmark of the winter sky, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. The celestial equator cuts across Orion’s waist, with Bellatrix and the Hunter’s upper body on one side and his knees/legs/feet on the other. Orion can therefore be seen in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres from around October through April. The image of Orion that Northern Hemisphere inhabitants are familiar with would look upside down to them if they viewed the constellation from south of the equator.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Orion is standing on his head. Use Stellarium to learn how you see Orion.
Orion hovers above ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile in this photo from March 2020. Orion is upside down in the Southern Hemisphere. The bright orangish star is Betelgeuse, with the other shoulder star to the lower left being Bellatrix. Image via ESO/ Y. Beletsky.
You’ll find Bellatrix at 5h25m R.A. +06°20’ Dec.
Bottom line: Bellatrix is the third-brightest star in Orion. The hot bluish-white shoulder star has a name that means “female warrior.”
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3lJQW0L
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Victor C. Rogus in Sedona, Arizona, captured this telescopic view of the star Bellatrix on November 15, 2020. Many eyes were turned toward this star then because Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) was near it and just past its closest to Earth. Thank you, Victor.
Bluish-white Bellatrix – aka Gamma Orionis – is the third-brightest star in the easy-to-recognize constellation Orion the Hunter. This star marks the left shoulder of Orion; a brighter star, reddish Betelgeuse, marks the Hunter’s right shoulder. Another brighter star, Rigel, marks the Hunter’s left foot.
In the month of November, Orion is just coming back to a convenient viewing time in the evening sky. You’ll find it in your sky between your local sunset and your local midnight. Try Stellarium to find out exactly when Orion rises over your eastern horizon.
The constellation Orion is easy to spot. Three medium-bright stars in a short, straight row – known as Orion’s Belt – marks its mid-section. Betelgeuse and Rigel are Orion’s brightest stars, and Bellatrix is 3rd-brightest.
A print of the copperplate engraving for Johann Bayer’s Uranometria (1661) showing the constellation Orion. Image via U.S. Naval Observatory Library/ Wikimedia Commons.
Bellatrix in lore and culture
In popular culture today, many know the name Bellatrix as J.K. Rowling’s dark witch, Bellatrix Lestrange, in the Harry Potter fantasy book and film series. Rowling frequently employed names from astronomy for important characters in her series: Sirius, Andromeda, Cygnus, Draco and Luna, among others.
In the history of the sky, Bellatrix comes from Latin and means female warrior. Bellatrix is also sometimes called the Amazon Star.
According to Jim Kaler, before Orion’s bluish-white shoulder star carried the name Bellatrix, that name belonged to a different star. The golden star Capella carried the name Bellatrix in medieval times.
Star chart showing the constellation Orion the Hunter and its brightest stars, via IAU/ Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg, Sky & Telescope/ Wikimedia Commons.
The brightness of Bellatrix, and surrounding nebulosity
Rigel and Betelgeuse are generally considered the sky’s eighth and 11th brightest stars, with magnitudes (brightnesses) of 0.13 and 0.50 respectively. Bellatrix is the sky’s 26th brightest star, approximately (estimates vary depending on the source), and its magnitude vacillates between 1.59 and 1.64.
While Bellatrix has an apparent magnitude of 1.64, it has an absolute magnitude of -3.3. Apparent magnitude is a measure of how bright things look to an observer, or how bright it “appears.” Absolute magnitude is a star’s intrinsic brightness. All stars’ absolute magnitudes are measurements of how bright they would be if they were 10 parsecs (32 light-years) away from Earth. Absolute magnitude is not a term observers often use; it’s more used in the scientific community when making a comparison between stars. Consider the star Saiph, representing the knee opposite Bellatrix’s shoulder star in Orion. Saiph “appears” dimmer than Bellatrix, and its apparent magnitude is 2.05. But Saiph’s absolute magnitude is -6.8! You can probably guess that this means Saiph is much farther away from us than Bellatrix, and you’d be right. Bellatrix is 303 light-years from Earth while Saiph is 1,826 light-years away!
Bellatrix appears to have a white or bluish-white hue. When viewed through binoculars or a telescope, you might pick up a gaseous glow surrounding it.
The glow does not originate with Bellatrix itself but with its location within the great Orion Molecular Cloud complex, a star-forming region in the same direction in space as the constellation Orion. In Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Volume Two, Robert Burnham wrote:
A faint diffuse nebulosity surrounding [Bellatrix], shown on the Skalnate Pleso Atlas, is merely an illuminated portion of the general nebulous haze which envelops much of Orion, and which naturally becomes visible in the vicinity of any highly luminous star.
Similar masses of nebulous haze are scattered across the entire region to the south of Bellatrix, culminating in the splendor of the Great Nebula itself.
A long-exposure telescope image of the Orion Molecular Cloud complex, a star-forming region. This region permeates the sky in the direction of Orion. See Orion’s 3 Belt stars, and Betelgeuse, Rigel and Bellatrix? This photo – taken by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in October 2010 – appeared as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on October 23, 2010. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Science of Bellatrix
Bellatrix is in spectral class B2 III. B stars are on the brighter, hotter and whiter end of the spectrum, and the number 2 means it is an early type compared to a larger number. The III denotes that it is a giant star, although Jim Kaler of the University of Illinois has said that Bellatrix in not an actual giant, but just has the spectral signature of a giant. He asserts that Bellatrix is probably a hydrogen-fusing dwarf, still on its way to the true giant stage.
At nine times the mass of our sun, Bellatrix could be a supernova candidate, but – if that doesn’t occur – it will become a massive white dwarf. Bellatrix may have a companion in Gamma Orionis B, a red dwarf that for the past 100-plus years has maintained a constant separation of 178 arcseconds. But Bellatrix’s possible companion star is not close enough for its matter to flow into Bellatrix and trigger a supernova.
Bellatrix is one of the hottest stars that you can see without optical aid. It has a temperature of 21,750 Kelvin (38,690 F). Compare that to our sun, which is a mere 5,778 Kelvin (about 10,000 F).
Bellatrix may be six times the size of our sun.
Skywatchers know Orion as a hallmark of the winter sky, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. The celestial equator cuts across Orion’s waist, with Bellatrix and the Hunter’s upper body on one side and his knees/legs/feet on the other. Orion can therefore be seen in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres from around October through April. The image of Orion that Northern Hemisphere inhabitants are familiar with would look upside down to them if they viewed the constellation from south of the equator.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Orion is standing on his head. Use Stellarium to learn how you see Orion.
Orion hovers above ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile in this photo from March 2020. Orion is upside down in the Southern Hemisphere. The bright orangish star is Betelgeuse, with the other shoulder star to the lower left being Bellatrix. Image via ESO/ Y. Beletsky.
You’ll find Bellatrix at 5h25m R.A. +06°20’ Dec.
Bottom line: Bellatrix is the third-brightest star in Orion. The hot bluish-white shoulder star has a name that means “female warrior.”
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3lJQW0L
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