By: Windell Barfield & Landris Baggs

By: Windell Barfield & Landris Baggs

Sirius, Mimosa & Ursa Major

Sirius • Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky!• Sirius is derived from the ancient Greek Seirios. Which means

glowing or scorcher.• The Bayer designation is Alphus Canis Majoris.• Sirius is also located in a Binary star system. It’s next to Sirius B

(White Dwarf) • Sirius is classified as a “rainbow” star because it flickers with

many colors. • Sirius is well known as the dog star because it is the chief star in

Canis Major.• 8.6 Light-years away and is one of the nearest stars after the sun. • Classified to astronomers as a class A- type star. Much hotter

than our own sun.

Sirius Contd. • Sirius’s location is: 6 Hours & 45 Minutes; -16°.

Mimosa• Beta Crucis, also known as Mimosa/Becrux, is the second

brightest star in the constellation of Crux.• So far to the south as to be unfamiliar to the ancient Greeks

and Romans, this star does not have a classical name.• German astronomer Johann Bayer (1572-1625) is said to have

given it the name Mimosa, which apparently is derived from the Latin word for a mime or farcical actor.

• The Cross is a southern hemisphere constellation, and you will not see Mimosa north of 30 degrees north latitude. That is approximately north of a line that runs from St. Augustine, Florida to New Orleans and Austin.

• About 353 light-years from Earth, Mimosa has a visual magnitude or 1.25.

Mimosa continued…..• It is a giant (or sub giant) blue star, which is more than 3,000

times brighter than are own star.• Mimosa is blue…. and as such is very, very, very hot.• Mimosa is thought to have a radius about 8 times that of the

sun, and a mass 14 times greater. However, these figures are not certain because it is also known that Mimosa has a small stellar companion about which little is known.

• Since all we can observe is the combined light of both, it is difficult to be precise on all these details.

• Mimosa’s position is RA: 12h 47m 44s, dec: -59° 41 19″.′

Pictures of Mimosa..

Ursa Major• Means Large bear• Visible usually throughout the whole year.• Holds the big dipper.• Declination in the night sky of Dec: 10hr. 53 min.• RA: 55 degrees• 80 lightyears away.• Alioth is the brightest star in Ursa Major.• 3rd largest constellations in the sky.• Zeus turned Hera his wife into a bear and threw her in the sky.