Antares, Sigma Scorpii and Messier 4 on Stereo HI1 imagery.

VIDS:
7th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
8th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
9th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
10th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
11th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
12th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
13th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
14th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
15th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
16th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
And for those that don't like vids

7th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
8th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
9th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
10th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
11th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
12th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
13th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
14th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
15th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
16th [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]

Higher quality pictures will come as the days go by.. (usually 3 days back)

From this image [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]

The 4 largest "objects"

On the left is mercury. (going into the field of ?stars?)

(fainter now)furthest right is: Sigma Scorpii (σ Sco / σ Scorpii) is a star system in the constellation Scorpius. It also has the traditional name Al Niyat, although this name is sometimes also applied to Tau Scorpii, or to the asterism formed by both Sigma and Tau. Sigma Scorpii is 735 light years from the Sun.The primary component of the system, Sigma Scorpii A, is classified as a blue-white B-type giant. It is a variable star of the Beta Cephei type. Its apparent brightness varies hardly perceptibly between +2.86 and +2.94 with multiple periods of 0.2468429, 0.239671, and 8.2 days. It is itself an eclipsing binary, and has a nearby O-type companion which makes an orbit once every 33 days.Orbiting this binary at a separation half an arcsecond, or at least 120 Astronomical Units (AU), four times the Sun–Neptune distance, is the magnitude +5.2 Sigma Scorpii C which has an orbital period of over a hundred years. Even farther out at 20 arcseconds, or more than 4500 AU, is Sigma Scorpii B with a magnitude of +8.7. It is classified as a B9 dwarf.
Source [link to en.wikipedia.org]

(fainter now) Bottom right is Globular Cluster M4 (also known as Messier Object 4 or NGC 6121) is a globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius.It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1746 and catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764. This was the first globular cluster in which individual stars were resolved. Just visible to the naked eye, M4 is conspicuous in even the smallest of telescopes as a fuzzy ball of light. It is also the one of the easiest globular clusters to find with it only being 1.3 degrees west of the bright star Antares with both objects being visible in a wide field telescope. Modestly sized telescopes will begin to resolve individual stars of which the brightest in M4 are of apparent magnitude 10.8.At the distance of 7,200 light years that has been determined for M4 it is perhaps the closest globular cluster to our Solar system. It is also a rather loosely concentrated cluster of class IX. M4 appears about the same size as the Moon on the sky which, given its distance, yield a spatial dimension of some 75 light years across. At least 43 variable stars have been observed in this cluster.In 1987 a millisecond pulsar was discovered in M4 with a period of 3.0 milliseconds or about ten times faster than the Crab Pulsar. Photographs taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 have revealed white dwarf stars in M4 that are among the oldest known stars in the Milky Way Galaxy at an age of 13 billion years. One such white dwarf has been found to be a binary star with a pulsar companion, PSR B1620-26 and a planet orbiting it with a mass of 2.5 times that of Jupiter.

Source: [link to en.wikipedia.org]

And main is Antares (α Scorpii / Alpha Scorpii) is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. Along with Aldebaran, Spica, and Regulus it is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic. The similarly colored Aldebaran lies almost directly opposite Antares in the Zodiac.

Source [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Graphical Image of antares and surrounding stars [link to www.askart.com]

Real image [link to www.lolife.com]


Thank you R420.

Now I know what it is I can watch it in peace as it drifts by :)

The assumption now is that the stereo HI imagery is very sensitive to light (has to pick up tiny particles from the sun) and quite possibly is zoomed in as well, so would make the objects seen look nice and bright :)

Last Edited by Dr. Quibble on 09/15/2009 11:39 PM