{"id":47712,"date":"2023-07-14T11:45:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T11:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=120435"},"modified":"2023-07-14T12:32:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T12:32:30","slug":"how-to-locate-sabik-second-brightest-star-in-the-serpent-bearer","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-to-locate-sabik-second-brightest-star-in-the-serpent-bearer\/","title":{"rendered":"How to locate Sabik, second-brightest star in the Serpent Bearer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sabik is a mid-brightness star shining at mag. +2.4, easily visible to the naked eye. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 14 July 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Ophiuchius<\/a>, the Serpent Bearer occupies a large piece of the sky. The 11th-largest constellation by area, its shape\u00a0 <\/span>is like a box with a roof and legs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabik (Eta (<\/span>\u03b7<\/span>) Ophiuchi) is the star that marks the box\u2019s southeast corner (lower left as seen from the UK), where it connects with the eastern leg.<\/span><\/p>\n

In traditional depictions, Sabik marks the position near to one of Ophiuchus\u2019s knees.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Sabik is a mid-brightness star shining at mag. +2.4, easily visible to the naked eye.<\/span><\/p>\n

The name Sabik is Arabic for \u2018the preceding one\u2019, but why it has this name isn\u2019t completely clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabik is a binary star<\/a> with two similarly bright, white components in a mutual 88-year orbit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The stars\u2019 brightness and spectral classifications<\/a> are mag. +3.0, A2 and +3.5, A3.<\/span><\/p>\n

The orbit is quite small, producing a maximum separation of 1.7 arcseconds, and is highly eccentric, bringing the components to within 2 AU when closest and out as far as 65 AU when farthest apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""M9.\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Globular cluster M9. Credit: Michael Breite, Stefan Heutz, Bernhard Hubl, Wolfgang Ries \/ CCDGuide.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

To have any chance of splitting the pair, observations need to be made when they are farthest apart (called apastron).<\/p>\n

The Sabik system is 88 lightyears from the Sun. The two binary components have estimated masses 3 and 3.5 times larger than the Sun.<\/p>\n

The globular cluster<\/a> M9 (pictured above) is located 3.5\u00b0 to the southeast of Sabik, 1\u00b0 east of the midpoint of the line from Sabik towards mag. +4.4 Xi (\u03be<\/span>) Ophiuchi.<\/p>\n

This guide originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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