The wonderful world of the stars of the Scorpion constellation
The night sky is wonderful, unique and unique. The more beautiful it looks, the more grand and immense depth it holds in itself. As much as it is enjoyable to look at it, it is equally important to understand it. Today we are trying to explain the magnificence of Scorpion constellation.
The Scorpion Crown consists of 3 stars: Ekrab, Daschubba and Fang. They are part of the Scorpius–Centaurus association, along with Antares and several other stars in the upper part of Scorpius.
Scorpion’s crown and ally
Scorpius is one of the easiest constellations to see in the sky. In fact, it is a large J-shaped figure. The bright red star Antares lies at the heart of Scorpion. Similarly, a curved arc of three stars – Akrab, Daschubba and Fang – marks the scorpion’s head. He is known as the crown of scorpions. The upper part of the Scorpion – the heart at the heart, and the three stars at the crown – are beautiful to look at and fascinating to contemplate. In addition, Antares and these three stars are part of a close cluster of young stars known as the Scorpius–Centaurus association. The Scorpius-Centaurus association extends to 4 constellations: Lupus, Centaurus, Crux, and Scorpius Upper.
young stars born from a single cloud
The Scorpius-Centaurus association is an OB association. Generally speaking, it is a term astronomers use to describe a collection of young stars formed from a single giant cloud of dust and gas. In fact, most of the stars in our galaxy formed in this way, without gravitational binding to each other. This is in contrast to stars that form in more densely gravitationally bound open or globular clusters. Observing these associations gives scientists a deeper understanding of how stars form and evolve. However, studying them can be a challenge because the member stars, at least the ones relatively close to us, cover a large area in the sky.
The members of the Scorpius–Centaurus association are, on average, about 420 light-years away. In addition, they appear in several southern constellations, including Scorpius uppermost, Centaurus the Centaur, Lupus the Wolf, and Crux the Southern Cross. This association is of great interest to astronomers because it is the closest OB association to us. In Scorpius, the members of the association, known as Upper Scorpius, may be only 11 million years old (this is very young in the range of stellar lifetimes) while the other members of the Scorpius–Centaurus association are 15 million years old. Till then.
stars and their distances and temperatures
Astronomers have directly measured distances for more than 400 of the brightest members of the Scorpius–Centaurus association. In addition, they have identified very light, low-mass stars from spectroscopic surveys. Overall, the exact number of stars in this association is unknown, but it is likely to be in the few thousands. Most of the stars we see are massive hot blue stars, like the stars in the crown of the Scorpion. For example, the largest star in the upper Scorpius region is Antares, which has a mass of about 15 times that of our Sun. However, the cluster of stars in the association ranges from very massive stars to very low mass brown dwarf stars.
Generations of stars: Dead stars lead to the birth of new stars
The Scorpius–Centaurus association once contained very massive stars. They are now extinct long ago by exploding as supernovae. Nevertheless, he would continue to be a key player in subsequent star formation. In fact, these supernovae left ghostly traces of their presence – bubble-like cavities within cloud complexes – when powerful shockwaves from the explosions initially swept through the giant molecular cloud. Far away from the supernova, the shockwaves, their power slightly reduced from traveling the great distance, pass through some cloud regions. Thus, a new round of star formation began as their energy compressed the dust and gas in their path.
Astronomer Thomas Prebisch wrote a correction to the possible history of the Scorpius–Centaurus association.
About 15 to 17 million years ago, star formation began in a region of the Giant Cloud located in today’s constellations of Centaurus and Lupus. Then, about 12 million years ago, a very massive star in that region exploded as a supernova, causing a tremendous shockwave. Eventually, about 11 million years ago, the energy from that shockwave reached the molecular clouds in the upper reaches of Scorpius, triggering star formation. This is how the Scorpion crown stars and Antares were born.
Supernova triggered a shockwave in Scorpion’s crown
The massive stars in this new family emitted powerful ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds, which cleared away most of the remaining cloud material, preventing further star formation. However, the most massive star in that family exploded as a supernova, triggering another blow. Now, that shockwave is passing through a neighboring cloud complex called Rho Ophiuchi, starting another cycle of star formation.
Source: Earth Sky.
Photo: Simon Murphy/Mount Stromlo/CFA.
Journalist Space science.
Working with India’s leading news paper.
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