Vega in history and myth. RXJ1800, a galaxy, lies very near in the sky to the bright star Vega. Fixed star Vega, Alpha Lyrae, is a massive 0.0 magnitude pale sapphire star in the Handle of the Lyre, Lyra Constellation.The traditional name Vega was originally Wega, which came from Arabic word wāqi‘ which means falling or landing.This in turn comes from an-nasr al-wāqi‘ which means The Falling Eagle. However, this discrepancy can be explained if Vega is a rapidly rotating star that is being viewed from the direction of its pole of rotation. projected) rotational velocity because Vega is seen almost pole-on. It is the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, with only Arcturus appearing brighter. Cornelius Agrippa listed its kabbalistic sign under Vultur cadens, a literal Latin translation of the Arabic name. One such star is Vega, a bright main-sequence star in the constellation Lyra. Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first detection of a magnetic field on the star Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky. [14], This star lies at a vertex of a widely spaced asterism called the Summer Triangle, which consists of Vega plus the two first-magnitude stars Altair, in Aquila, and Deneb in Cygnus. [54], Vega's spectral class is A0V, making it a blue-tinged white main sequence star that is fusing hydrogen to helium in its core. Astronomy & Astrophysics journal publishes the first detection of a magnetic field on the bright star Vega. 9725 NW 117th Ave. Suite 300. To maintain this amount of dust in orbit around Vega, a continual source of replenishment would be required. This range of variability was near the limits of observational capability for that time, and so the subject of Vega's variability has been controversial. The average line of sight component of this field has a strength of −0.6 ± 0.3 G.[66] This is comparable to the mean magnetic field on the Sun. (a) What time is required to send a radio signal from Earth to a planet orbiting Vega and back again? [90] Astronomers at the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hawaii and at UCLA suggested that the image may indicate a planetary system still undergoing formation. This excess was measured at wavelengths of 25, 60, and 100 μm, and came from within an angular radius of 10 arcseconds (10″) centered on the star. Nov 26, 2018 - Blue star Vega is the brightest light in the distinctive constellation Lyra the Harp. Vega has functioned as the baseline for calibrating the photometric brightness scale and was one of the stars used to define the zero point for the UBV photometric system. The best way to find Vega (or any star) is to use its right ascension and declination: The first detection of a magnetic field on the bright star Vega has been made. [108] Consequently, the Chinese name for Vega is 織女一 (Zhī Nǚ yī, English: the First Star of Weaving Girl)[109] In Chinese mythology, there is a love story of Qixi (七夕) in which Niulang (牛郎, Altair) and his two children (β Aquilae and γ Aquilae) are separated from their mother Zhinü (織女, lit. [44] Thus, Vega has a relatively flat electromagnetic spectrum in the visual region—wavelength range 350–850 nanometers, most of which can be seen with the human eye—so the flux densities are roughly equal; 2,000–4,000 Jy. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. It's also likely that other of these bright star names are not familiar to you, even though familiar Polaris is too dim to make this list. [22] Stars that display an infrared excess due to dust emission are termed Vega-like stars. [111], In Zoroastrianism, Vega was sometimes associated with Vanant, a minor divinity whose name means "conqueror". Vega has been widely studied and is considered by astronomers as the second most important star in the sky after the sun. Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed "arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun". [23], α Lyrae (Latinised to Alpha Lyrae) is the star's Bayer designation. Lyra is easy, too, if you have a dark sky. The blue-white star Vega via Fred Espenak . A close-up of Vega, the main star of the Lyra constellation. One possibility is that the chemical peculiarity may be the result of diffusion or mass loss, although stellar models show that this would normally only occur near the end of a star's hydrogen-burning lifespan. Capella. The brightness of Vega is exceeded by four stars in the night sky at visible wavelengths (and more at infrared wavelengths) as well as the bright planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, and these must be described by negative magnitudes. [63] However, as the pole of Vega is facing Earth and a polar coronal hole may be present,[53][64] confirmation of a corona as the likely source of the X-rays detected from Vega (or the region very close to Vega) may be difficult as most of any coronal X-rays would not be emitted along the line of sight. The faintest stars visible to the unaided eye are sixth magnitude, while the brightest in the night sky, Sirius, is of magnitude −1.46. Capella is the primary star in the constellation Auriga (the Charioteer), and the brightest star near to … This beacon of warmer weather is observable in the northern hemisphere much of the year but is highest in the sky in July-August. [88] This may be caused by an intense bombardment of comets or meteors, and may be evidence for the existence of a planetary system. Using the NARVAL spectropolarimeter of the Bernard-Lyot telescope on top of … It is rotating rapidly with a velocity of 236 km/s at the equator. 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