{"id":27432,"date":"2021-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?p=27432&preview=true&preview_id=27432"},"modified":"2022-01-11T15:57:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T15:57:01","slug":"star-of-the-month-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2021\/12\/16\/star-of-the-month-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Star of the month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Look for Saiph, at the knee of Orion<\/p>\n\n

\"This
Saiph will eventually collapse in on itself, resulting in a cataclysmic supernova explosion<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Saiph (Kappa (\u03ba) Orionis) is one of the main pattern stars in Orion, marking its southeast corner. Saiph is typically shown marking one of Orion\u2019s knees, although the formal translation of the name means \u2018sword\u2019, from the Arabic saif al jabbar; <\/em>\u2018sword of the giant\u2019.<\/p>\n\n

Interestingly, the name was originally attributed to Eta (\u03b7) Orionis, which sits west of the three Belt stars in Orion. It is said that Saiph\u2019s name was originally attributed to what we call Orion\u2019s Belt today, but got mistakenly transferred to Kappa, where it remained.<\/p>\n\n

Saiph is the sixth brightest star in Orion, appearing fainter than two of the Belt stars, but marginally brighter than Mintaka (Delta (\u03b4) Orionis) at the Belt\u2019s western end. It\u2019s a bright, B-class supergiant that appears to shine blue-white to us. Its spectral class is B0.5 Ia, \u2018Ia\u2019 indicating the luminosity class \u2018bright supergiant\u2019.<\/p>\n\n

Saiph is estimated to lie at a distance of 650 lightyears, which makes it closer than Rigel (Beta (\u03b2) Orionis), another blue supergiant at a distance of 860 lightyears. Despite this, Rigel appears much brighter to us, a characteristic attributed to the fact that Saiph is an extremely hot star with an effective temperature of 26,227\u02daC. Consequently, it radiates much of its light in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum which we can\u2019t see with our eyes. Rigel is a multiple star system, but the main component Rigel-A, has an effective temperature of 11,826\u02daC. Estimated to be around six times more massive and 22 times larger than the Sun, Saiph\u2019s luminosity is around 57,000 times greater.<\/p>\n\n

PHOTO: PETE LAWRENCE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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