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Old 22-04-2018, 10:03 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
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LIBRA - The Grand Tour

Libra is best known as the Scales of Justice, and the inverted, V- shape scales are very obvious to the casual observer. However, the constellation has had a bit of an identity crisis because of being associated with the Claws of the Scorpion. Indeed, it was not till 1930 that the southern end of the scales had it designation changed from Gamma Scorpio to Sigma Librae.

Below are the subjects in Libra that I wish to view:-

The Main Stars:

Alpha Librae. A very wide double. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Librae
Beta Librae.(old observations described it as Green in colour) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Librae
Gamma Librae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Librae
Eplison Librae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Librae
Sigma Librae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Librae (Orange or red in colour?)


Other objects of interest:

The Methuselah Star. This Star caused a lot of interest only a few years back when its age was estimated to be older than the age of the Universe. This ancient star is only 190 light years from us. It is part of an ancient halo of stars around our Milky way and just happen to be currently speeding through our region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_140283
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/h.../hd140283.html


Delta Librae. A variable star, whose brightness varies by about a magnitude over a 2.3 day period. It is of the Algol type.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Librae


Mu Librae. A close double. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Librae


ShJ 179 14h.25.5m -19.58 (Hartung handbook 641)
Wide double: mags 6.6 & 7.2. The secondary is a close double with a seperation of approximately 1 arc second.

NGC 5897. A globular cluster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_5897
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