Antares

Antares is a star. Ares in Greek is Mars, and therefore Antares means which rival's Mars. It is called Antares because it simulates Mars in clolour. It is reddish in colour, a massive dying star, brightest in the constellation Scorpius. The binary star system, which it is part of, is also called Antares, after this red supergiant. Antares is named Alpha Scorpii (α Scorpii), and is flanked by by Sigma Scorpii (σ Scorpii) and Tau Scorpii (τ Scorpii). Its smaller companion Beta Scorpii (𝛽 Scorpii) is bluish in colour. Its distance from Earth is about 550 light-years. Its mass is calculated to be 14.5 ± 1.5 times that of the Sun. Its radius is roughly 680 to 800 times the radius of the Sun. The brightness of Antares at visual wavelengths is about 10,000 times that of the Sun, while the true bolometric luminosity is around 100,000 times that of the Sun because the star radiates a considerable part of its energy in the infrared part of the spectrum. Antares is often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion".

Nearby pages
Antarvedi, Antbird, Ante, Anteater, Antebellum