APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Antares
Explanation: Antares is a huge star. In a class called red supergiant , Antares is about 700 times the size of our own Sun , 15 times more massive, and 10,000 times brighter. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius and one of the brighter stars in all the night sky. Antares is surrounded by a nebula of gas which it has itself expelled. Radiation from Antares ' blue stellar companion helps cause the nebular gas to glow, as photographed above. Antares is located about 500 light years away.
| Date | June 24, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit and Copyright: D. Malin (AAO), AATB, UKS Telescope |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |