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Libra (constellation)
Overview
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
of the zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
. Its name is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for weighing scales, and its symbol is
(UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text 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 measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s, 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, sometimes known as Scorpio, is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for scorpion, and its symbol is . It lies between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east...
to the east.
]
The brightest stars in Libra form a quadrangle
Quadrilateral
In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on...
:
- α LibraeAlpha LibraeAlpha Librae is the second brightest star in the constellation Libra . It has the traditional name Zubenelgenubi. The name, from Arabic الزبن الجنوبي , means "southern claw" and was coined before Libra was recognized as distinct from Scorpius...
, Zubenelgenubi ("southern claw"), a visual binary; - β LibraeBeta LibraeBeta Librae is the brightest star in the constellation Libra. It has the traditional name Zubeneschamali and the Latin name Lanx Borealis...
, Zubeneschamali ("northern claw"); - γ LibraeGamma LibraeGamma Librae is a star in the constellation Libra. It has the traditional name Zuben-el-Akrab, meaning "Shears of the Scorpion". The name is a modification of the Arabic al-Zuban al-Aqrab...
, Zubenelakrab ("scorpion's claw"); - σ LibraeSigma LibraeSigma Librae is a star in the constellation Libra. It has the traditional names Brachium , Cornu , and Zubenalgubi ....
, Brachium, an eclipsing variable.
σ Librae was formerly known as γ Scorpii despite being well inside the boundaries of Libra.
