Antares is a Supergiant star, and its atmosphere is 12 times larger than that of Mars.

Antares, the alpha star of Scorpio (the main star of Scorpio), was also called fire in ancient China, belonging to the seven-night antares in the Eastern Black Dragon. Antares is an old red Supergiant star, shining like the eyes of an angry bull. If placed in the center of the solar system, it is large enough to engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The atmosphere of antares is bigger, and its volume can reach 12 times of that of antares.

Astronomers believe that the volume of Antares is far beyond our imagination. Therefore, when we talk about antares as an extremely huge red Supergiant star, it may be difficult for you to realize how big it is through words. In terms of volume, Antares is not outstanding. Its mass is only ten times that of the sun, but its volume is 300 million times that of the sun. Since Antares is already in the later stage of the star's life, the hydrogen atoms used for nuclear fusion in its core are about to run out. Helium nuclei (by-products of hydrogen nuclear fusion) in the core are increasing, and the remaining hydrogen nuclei are squeezed out of the core and continue to fuse outside the core. This makes antares expand to such a grotesque volume.

Dagnello photosphere is a layer of stars that emit visible light. For giant stars, scientists usually use Dagnello photosphere to indicate the position of the star surface. The diameter of the light ball of Antares Dagnello is about 700 times that of the sun. If Antares is placed at the center of our solar system, the Dagnello photosphere of Antares will engulf planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, and extend to the asteroid belt outside the orbit of Mars. Its expansion does not stop there.

The first layer of a star's atmosphere is called the chromosphere. To the sun, chromosphere is a naked silver bar, close to the surface of the sun, with a radius of only 1% of the radius of the sun. But for Antares, the situation is completely different. Astronomers use high-resolution telescopes ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Wave Array Telescope) and VLA(Karl G.Jansky Very Large Array Telescope) to observe Antares.

They found that the thickness of the chromosphere of Antares reached 2.5 times its own radius, which was unbelievable. Why Antares can expand to this extent, the physical laws found so far are not enough to explain. Astronomers also found an interesting phenomenon. The chromosphere of Antares is divided into two regions, and the inner layer temperature is relatively high, with an average temperature of 20,000 degrees Celsius. But the temperature of the outer layer has been greatly reduced, and the average temperature is only 3500 degrees Celsius. Comparing the surface temperature of the sun at 6000 degrees Celsius, you may realize that although Antares is huge, it is not necessarily fierce.

I suddenly forgot, did I just mention that if you put Antares into our solar system, its chromosphere will be close to Saturn's orbit?

Antares is a giant star that can fill the atmosphere of the solar system except Mars, which is 12 times larger than itself. Topic 1: Move the bench away, and let's look at Antares, who are called "Superstars" and "Pale Long Zhixin"! English Topic 2: Have you ever heard that the ancients could observe the celestial phenomena at night to predict the crisis of compassion? Want to know why? Let's take a look at the mysterious Antares!

Yes, it's very big, but it gets even weirder when it passes through chromosphere. The diameter of the star is stretched by 12 times, and even Uranus, which can contact the star system, has a wide range of activities, which can provide particles with a speed greater than the escape speed of the star and form an airflow that makes the whole system leave. Once Antares completes its mission, these air currents will begin to form huge and magnificent nebulae. We don't know much about the origin of these air currents, but we suspect that similar processes have occurred in the solar system, only weaker. Through the in-depth study of such a big and close star as Antares, astronomers can more accurately understand how these big stars disappeared and prepare for the next stage.

Antares, also known as Scorpio, is abbreviated as SCO in Latin. It is not only the shining star ranked 15 in the night sky, but also the most dazzling star in Scorpio. It is a changeable and irregular star with a reddish appearance, and its surface brightness ranges from +0.6 to+1.6. Because Antares is located near the center of the constellation, it is also called "the heart of the scorpion", and there are also σ stars and τ stars on both sides of its position.

According to the spectral type, Antares is classified as M 1.5 AB-IB, which is a developing red Supergiant star and one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye. Its exact size is uncertain, but when it is located in the center of the solar system, its size may reach somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and its mass may reach about 12 times the mass of the sun according to calculation.

Of all the stars in the OB Association of Scorpio-Centauri Association, Antares is the brightest, largest and most evolved star. Antares is a member of Scorpio subgroup, containing thousands of stars, with an average age of 65,438+065,438+000 million years and a distance of about 65,438+070 parsec (550 light years) from the Earth. With naked eyes, Antares seems to have only one star, but it is actually a binary star, namely α Scorpio A and α Scorpio B. The brighter of the binary stars is the red Supergiant star, and the darker is the thermal main sequence star with a magnitude of 5.5.

Paul m. Sartre

FY: Astronomy Volunteer Team

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