Scheduled air date: 2000 Jul 10-16
Locate the two brightest stars in Libra,
Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi. These two star names are Arabic
for "The Northern Claw" and "The Southern Claw,"
respectively, and date back to when they were considered part of the
constellation Scorpius—before
the Romans used them in their constellation Libra, the Scales.
Zubenelgenubi is about 65 light-years from us and 25 times
brighter than our own Sun, while Zubeneschamali is about 140 light-years from us
and over 150 times as bright as the Sun!
(Shown about 11:00 PM for mid-Northern latitudes.)
If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.
 |
Illustrations on this page were created using
TheSky Astronomy
Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc. |