Archives for the 'stars' Category
Gliese 710
Published on 1 Feb 2007 at 2:53 pm.
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Filed under stars.
In the direction of Serpens Cauda, there is a small unassuming star with the designation BD-01°3474, also known as Gliese 710. It is a small reddish star, only about half the mass of the Sun, and shining with only a bit more than 4% of the Sun’s light. It is what astronomers call […]
Magnetic Activity of Alpha Centauri
Published on 18 Jan 2007 at 1:45 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under conference blogging, stars.
Over at Villanova University, Laurence DeWarf and Edward Guinan have been working on a program of studying stars like the Sun. They call this the “Sun in Time” project. The idea is to try to understand how stars like the Sun change as they age. Now, that is very important, because even […]
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Orion’s Belt
Published on 24 Dec 2006 at 9:43 pm.
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Filed under constellations, stars.
I am now back home from my trip. Driving west early in the morning, leaving for my trip, I saw Orion ahead of me, guiding me onward. As I drove east, returning home, Orion again guided me shortly after sunset. This is the time of year that Orion is up all night long. It is […]
Capella
Published on 15 Dec 2006 at 12:40 am.
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Orion is one of the easiest constellations to find, and one that most people know. If you go out this time of year and find Orion in the sky, look to the north of that constellation and you’ll see a pentagon shaped constellation that we call Auriga, the Chariot Driver. The brightest star […]
Regulus
Published on 28 Nov 2006 at 9:42 pm.
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In the heart of the constellation Leo is the star Regulus. (as seen in my crude sketch above). The name Regulus goes back to Copernicus, according to Richard Allen’s classic book about star names.  This star had earlier been called simply Rex (Latin for king), and it was called Regia by Pliny. Even in Arabic, it was Malikiyy (kingly). Quite […]
The Zuben Stars
Published on 21 Sep 2006 at 5:32 pm.
9 Comments.
Filed under constellations, skywatching, stars.
In the western sky, for a few hours after sunset, you can see a very bright object. That is the planet Jupiter. However, Jupiter isn’t really what I want to talk about. Rather I want to talk about two stars in the same area of the sky. One is just to the right of Jupiter, named […]
Brown Dwarfs (and Giant Planets)
Published on 12 Sep 2006 at 5:04 pm.
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Filed under extrasolar planets, planets, stars.
Some years ago, when I was in graduate school, I was asked to write a column for the university’s astronomy club’s monthly newsletter. It was the “Astroquestion of the Month” column. Anyway, the last question that I posed before leaving was, “What is a brown dwarf?” At the time, no one had yet positively identified a brown dwarf, so […]
