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Libra (constellation)

 

 
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Libra (constellation)
 
 
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Libra (is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 of the zodiac
Zodiac

Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude....
. Its name is Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for weighing scales, and its symbol is (Unicode
Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
 ). It is fairly faint, with no first magnitude
Apparent magnitude

The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measurement of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value it would have in the absence of the Earth's atmosphere....
 stars
STARS

STARS can mean:*Fulton surface-to-air recovery system*Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society*STARS members in Resident Evil, a fictional task force that appears in Capcom's Resident Evil video game franchise....
, and lies between Virgo
Virgo (constellation)

Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky....
 to the west and Scorpius
Scorpius

Scorpius is one of the constellations of the zodiac; as an astrological sign it is called Scorpio. Its name is Latin for scorpion, and its symbol is ....
 to the east.

Notable features
The brightest stars in Libra form a quadrangle
Quadrilateral

In geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four 'sides' or edges and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, for analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on....
:



s Librae was formerly known as ? Scorpii despite being well inside the boundaries of Libra.






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Libra (is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 of the zodiac
Zodiac

Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude....
. Its name is Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for weighing scales, and its symbol is
Libra
(Unicode
Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
 ). It is fairly faint, with no first magnitude
Apparent magnitude

The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measurement of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value it would have in the absence of the Earth's atmosphere....
 stars
STARS

STARS can mean:*Fulton surface-to-air recovery system*Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society*STARS members in Resident Evil, a fictional task force that appears in Capcom's Resident Evil video game franchise....
, and lies between Virgo
Virgo (constellation)

Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky....
 to the west and Scorpius
Scorpius

Scorpius is one of the constellations of the zodiac; as an astrological sign it is called Scorpio. Its name is Latin for scorpion, and its symbol is ....
 to the east.

Notable features


The brightest stars in Libra form a quadrangle
Quadrilateral

In geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four 'sides' or edges and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, for analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on....
:

  • a Librae
    Alpha Librae

    Alpha Librae is the second brightest star in the constellation Libra . It also has the traditional name Zubenelgenubi. The name, from Arabic language ????? ??????? , means "southern claw" and was coined before Libra was recognized as distinct from Scorpius....
    , Zubenelgenubi ("southern claw"), a visual binary;
  • ß Librae
    Beta Librae

    Galactic Coordinates: Galactic coordinate system 352.0, Galactic coordinate system +39.2Beta Librae is the brightest star in the constellation Libra ....
    , Zubeneschamali ("northern claw");
  • ? Librae
    Gamma Librae

    Gamma Librae is a star in the constellation Libra . It also has the traditional name Zuben-el-Akrab, meaning "Shears of the Scorpion". The name is a modification of the Arabic language al-Zuban al-Aqrab ....
    , Zubenelakrab ("scorpion's claw");
  • s Librae
    Sigma Librae

    Sigma Librae is a star in the constellation Libra . It also has the traditional names Brachium , Cornu , and Zubenalgubi ....
    , Brachium
    Brachium

    Brachium can refer to:* Sigma Librae* brachium of inferior colliculus* brachium of superior colliculus...
     an eclipsing variable.


s Librae was formerly known as ? Scorpii despite being well inside the boundaries of Libra. It was not redesignated as s Librae until 1851 (by Benjamin A. Gould).

Planetary system

Recently, Gliese 581 c
Gliese 581 c

Gliese 581 c is an List of unconfirmed exoplanets "super-earth", a large terrestrial planet extrasolar planet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581....
, the first Earth-like extrasolar planet
Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond the Solar System, orbiting a star other than the Sun. As of February 2009, 342 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia....
 to be found within its parent star's habitable zone
Habitable zone

The habitable zone in astronomy is a region of space where stellar conditions are favorable for life as it is found on Earth. There are two regions that must be favorable, one within a planetary system and the other within the galaxy....
, has been found in orbit around the star Gliese 581
Gliese 581

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star with stellar classification M3V, located 20.3 light years away from Earth. Its mass is estimated to be approximately a third that of the Sun, and it is the 87th closest known star system to the Sun....
 in the constellation Libra, raising the question of whether it has life
Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is defined as life which does not originate from Earth. It is the subject of astrobiology and its existence remains hypothetical, because there is no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life which has been generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community....
.

History

In earlier times, Libra has been represented not a balance, but as the claws of a scorpion
Scorpion

Scorpions are any arachnid of the order Scorpionida. They are members of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about Latitude, except New Zealand and Antarctica....
. The reason is a confused translation of the words zubana in Arabic and zibanitu in Akkadian
Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
, which mean both 'weighing scale' and 'scorpion'. In ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran....
, a weighing scale
Weighing scale

A weighing scale is a measuring instrument for measuring the weight or mass of an object. They use one of two techniques. A spring scale measures weight by the distance a spring deflects under its load....
 was often the arm and the pans without a stand, and was hung up by a string tied to the midpoint of the arm, resulting in a fancied resemblance to a scorpion
Scorpion

Scorpions are any arachnid of the order Scorpionida. They are members of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about Latitude, except New Zealand and Antarctica....
 hung up by the end of its tail.

The double meaning of zibanitu resulted in the constellation being called Chelae Scorpionis (the scorpion's claws), and originally formed part of the claws of the Scorpius
Scorpius

Scorpius is one of the constellations of the zodiac; as an astrological sign it is called Scorpio. Its name is Latin for scorpion, and its symbol is ....
. The modern Libra is the youngest of the Zodiac and the only one not to represent a living creature. In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Libra is considered to depict the scales held by Astraea (identified as Virgo
Virgo (constellation)

Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky....
), the goddess of justice.

Astrology

, the Sun appears in the constellation Libra from October 31 to November 22. In tropical astrology
Tropical Astrology

Tropical astrology is a type of astrology based on a zodiac whose points of reference are the tropics. The word tropic comes from the Greek for "turning point," and originally meant the point at which the sun at sunrise and sunset appears to turn, and to move north in the northern hemisphere and south in the southern hemisphere along the...
, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Libra
Libra (astrology)

Libra is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Libra . In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the Precession ....
 from September 23 to October 23, and in sidereal astrology
Sidereal astrology

Sidereal astrology is the system of astrology used by some Western and all Jyotish astrology who base their interpretation around the use of the Sidereal time zodiac....
, from October 16 to November 15. The symbol for Libra is the Scales
Weighing scale

A weighing scale is a measuring instrument for measuring the weight or mass of an object. They use one of two techniques. A spring scale measures weight by the distance a spring deflects under its load....
, making it the only zodiac sign of which the symbol is not a living creature.

Visualizations

Traditionally, a and ß Librae are considered to represent the scales' balance beam, and ? and s are the weighing pans.

H.A. Rey has suggested a way to connect the stars more fully to graphically show a balance
Weighing scale

A weighing scale is a measuring instrument for measuring the weight or mass of an object. They use one of two techniques. A spring scale measures weight by the distance a spring deflects under its load....
. The star beta Librae
Beta Librae

Galactic Coordinates: Galactic coordinate system 352.0, Galactic coordinate system +39.2Beta Librae is the brightest star in the constellation Libra ....
, of third magnitude represents the top of the balance. The stars gamma Librae
Gamma Librae

Gamma Librae is a star in the constellation Libra . It also has the traditional name Zuben-el-Akrab, meaning "Shears of the Scorpion". The name is a modification of the Arabic language al-Zuban al-Aqrab ....
 and alpha Librae
Alpha Librae

Alpha Librae is the second brightest star in the constellation Libra . It also has the traditional name Zubenelgenubi. The name, from Arabic language ????? ??????? , means "southern claw" and was coined before Libra was recognized as distinct from Scorpius....
 represent the balance beam: alpha Librae being of third magnitude as well. The stars upsilon Librae
Upsilon Librae

Upsilon Librae is a Stellar classification, fourth-magnitude star in the constellation Libra . It is, on rare occasions, called Derakrab Borealis, meaning "Northern One of the Scorpion's Arm"; the base name Derakrab being a contraction of the Arabic language title Al-Dhira al-Akrab , meaning "Arm of the Scorpion" + La...
 and tau Librae
Tau Librae

Tau Librae is a Stellar classification, fourth-magnitude star in the constellation Libra . It is occasionally called by the name Derakrab Australis, meaning "Southern One of the Scorpion's Arm"; the base name Derakrab being a contraction of the Arabic language title Al-Dhira al-Akrab , meaning "Arm of the Scorpion" +...
 represent the left plate of the balance, whereas the star sigma Librae
Sigma Librae

Sigma Librae is a star in the constellation Libra . It also has the traditional names Brachium , Cornu , and Zubenalgubi ....
 represents the right plate of the balance. All three of these stars are of the third magnitude.

Citations


External links