Beta Centauri

Beta Centauri (β Cen / β Centauri), also known as Hadar or Agena, is the second brightest star in the constellation Centaurus and the eleventh brightest star in the nighttime sky.

Beta Centauri Related Category: Astronomy: Stars (b´t sntõr´): see Hadar. More on Beta Centauri Hadar - or Beta Centauri bright star in the constellation Centaurus; 1992 position R.A. 14h01.7m, dec. −60°13&minut;.

Beta Centauri (proper name Hadar) is a blue-white super giant and in about 4,000 years, the proper motion of Alpha Centauri will carry it close enough to Beta Centauri that they will appear to be a magnificent double star.

Beta Centauri (Hadar) is the tenth brightest star in the heavens, at 0.61 visual magnitude (which is actually the combined values of its two components). It's 525 light years distant and is a rather difficult visual binary (see below).

Beta Centauri weighs in Although little known to most stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere, Beta Centauri is the 11th brightest star in the night. It's just 4.5° west of Alpha Centauri, the Sun's nearest neighbor.

Centaurus is dominated by its two brightest stars, Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri, third brightest star in the sky and the nearest star to the Earth) and first magnitude Hadar (Beta Centauri).

In 1501 the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) charted what seems to have been Alpha and Beta Centauri and the stars of Crux, but the most accurate early depiction was made by the Italian navigator Andrea Corsali in 1515.

Centaurus contains Alpha and Beta Centauri, the third and tenth brightest stars in the sky. (Note: Some lists name Betelgeuse in Orion as the tenth brightest star, but Betelgeuse is a variable star making its ranking difficult).

In the southern hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is one of the stars of The Pointers or The Southern Pointers [18] with Beta Centauri or Hadar / Agena. [19] Both stars directly point towards the constellation Crux-the Southern Cross.

The brighter stars are designated by the constellation in which they appear and are ranked by Greek letters, generally according to their relative brightness; Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus, Beta Centauri is the ...

Open star clusters NGC 5460, NGC 3766, NGC 5316, NGC 5617 Spiral Galaxy M83 Elliptical galaxy NGC 4945 Peculiar Galaxy NGC 5128 containing the radio source Centaurus A Meteor Shower: Alpha und Beta Centaurids ...

Globular cluster omega Cen Open star clusters NGC 5460, NGC 3766, NGC 5316, NGC 5617 Elliptical galaxy NGC 4945 Peculiar Galaxy NGC 5128 containing the radio source Centaurus A Meteor Shower: Alpha und Beta Centaurids ...

See also: Sky, Star, Taurus, Hadar, Light