Monday 19 October 2009

Antares: Star of the Generals

Have you seen action in the battle field or engaged in political gerrymandering or in corporate brinkmanship? If yes you are one of the chosen few who have the sight and influence of the huge and bright star Antares. In this blog post, I examine the Star Antares in terms Astronomy and Cosmics and outline recommendations to improve your Life and Lifestyle.

Astronomy

The word Antares means “Like Ares” or “Rival to Ares”; as you know, Ares is the Greek god of war, whom the Romans called as Mars. Antares is located in the Scorpio constellation where it is the brightest star. Beaming in red and orange hue with a greenish tinge the star is the sixteenth brightest in the known sky. It has number of aliases: The Arab astronomers called it “Al-Qalb al-Aqrab” meaning the “heart of the Scorpio” as it is located in the middle of the Scorpio constellation. This led to the Latin name “Cor Scorpii” meaning the same. It is also known as “ Vespertilio” meaning “Bat” as it hovers in the ecliptical path like a bird.

Due to its metallic red colour, its location in the ecliptical path and its shining brightness, Antares is often confused for or compared with the Planet Mars. Antares is frequently occulted by the Moon; other Planets also sight the star as and when they sojourn in the Scorpio constellation. Mars conjuncts Antares once in two years.

This red super-giant astronomically known as “Alpha Scorpii” varies in brightness between 0.9 to 1.1 magnitude. It is a binary with a companion star much smaller than itself. Astronomers describe Antares as a semi-regular pulsating binary. It is classified as a red colour intermediate super giant luminous at times and less luminous at some other times which is written in astronomical short-hand as “M 1.5 Iab-Ib”. The companion star is blue-white and a main sequence star, which is written in astronomical short-hand as “B2.5 V”. Due to its pulsating nature and varying degree of brightness and due to the blue-white colour of its companion star mixing with its own metallic redness, Antares whimsically radiates in an unusual orange hue with a greenish tinge.

In addition to the companion, Antares has two aide-de camps as they say in the Military. It is flanked by two great stars: Sigma Scorpii in the north-west on the upper segment and Tau Scorpii in the south-east on the lower segment; both the stars are called by the Arab Astronomers as “Al-Niyat” , which means “The Arteries”. They had a logical reason to do so: since Antares is the heart of the Scorpio both Sigma and Tau Scorpii the two stars flanking the heart , should better be named as arteries. Antares the General, cannot be left with is the aid-de-camps only. A litany of soldiers has to stand guard the commander. So we have one of the brilliant star cluster M4 (Messier Object 4) Globular Cluster with about 50 stars within located half-way between Antares and Sigma Scorpii. I am giving you an excellent astro-photo of this scenario:

Antares

Antares_M4_APO

http://www.nightsky.at/Photo/Neb/Antares_M4_APO.html

The orange-red glowing super-giant Antares is at the bottom left; M4 globular cluster of stars is at the bottom right . The bright white-blue star Sigma Scorpii is on the top right of the picture.

Antares is located in Right Ascension (Celestial Longitude) 16 hour 29 minutes and 24 seconds and Declination (Celestial Latitude) 26 degree 25 minutes and 55 seconds south. Much cooler than the Sun it has surface temperature of 3,400 Kelvin. It is about 604 light years away and about 15 times the size of the Sun. It has 500,000 million miles diameter something like 800 times the Sun. To cap it all, Antares is 60,000 times luminous than the Sun. Antares is moving away from earth at a speed of 2 miles per second. Large and powerful stellar winds blow within Antares making huge red flairs and great sound of lashing. Sadly, Antares has finished its helium stock and is now losing its own mass; one day it will end its life as a great red star by transforming itself as a brilliant supernova.

Cosmics

Historically, Antares together with three other stars namely, Regulus, Fomalhaut and Aldebaran were considered as the Royal Stars of Persia about 3000 B.C. They were venerated as the four guardians of heaven: Regulus in north, Antares in west, Fomalhaut in South and Aldebaran in East. The Persian names went as Venant, Satevis, Hastorang and Tascheter respectively. These four stars not only acted as guardians but also marked the season as well. These were located approximately in 6 hours interval in the space roughly about 3 months marking the equinoxes and the solstices. The star also personifies the Arab warrior Anter who lived in the days before the Holy Prophet. This warrior was once a slave; when he was called upon to take part in battle he did so proving his valour resulting him being manumitted; he was also allowed to marry his sweetheart a lady of noble personage. In the Euphratean culture Antares is the Lord of the Steed. The star marks the Eighteenth Arabic Lunar Mansion (Manzil) “Al- Qalb” (The Heart ) which is generally considered as fortunate.

The following are Cosmics Highlights of the star Antares

1. It is just opposite of the Star Aldebaran located in the east, when Antares sets

Aldebaran rises and vice versa. Antares represented the Autumn Equinox in early times; today Antares can be seen at its highest point on June 22 every year

2. Antares has opposite directions. It is the star of bravery and at the same time of foolish and rash behaviour. Antares personifies a great general who can be deceived by a puny soldier; great military honour leading the person to bask in the glory and wither away later

3. Whoever born under the star would move towards west from their birth place

4. Antares grants you several positive cosmics: Courage & Determination; working against many odds to achieve your goals; amassing wealth from spoils of war or victory in ventures such as corporate raiding; fortune, eminence and action orientation; fight for social causes like liberty, equality and fraternity in the style of French revolutionaries; lot of energy flowing from the Base Chakra (Nafs in Arabic); the energy flows of Fire, Spirit, Air, Water and Earth would be finely balanced at the beginning but would go haywire as you grow older; magnanimity trimmed with selfishness is your hallmark

5. Negative cosmics abound: rash behaviour; insubordination; rebelling against the establishment; sowing discord amongst the rank and file especially in the army corps; arrogance & over-confidence; slip of the tongue and not fault of the brain; often betrayed by own confidante’s ; wisdom taking back-seat ; success savoured in ventures dissipates if level head does not prevail

6. The Arabic Lunar Manzil Al-Qalb makes you a high-spirited person with huge fire energy along with the sound of fury; you will rise like a meteor unless heavens forbid you will fall like Napoleon Bonaparte. This Manzil is favourable for those who engage in war or fight for a worthy cause; on the fillip side this Manzil encourages rebellion, sedition and insubordination.

Lifestyle

The following are few of the recommendations for improving your life:

1. If Antares is your birth star, join the army or get into army related business activity. Often wear strong shade colours but not black; drink lot of water and eat red meat. Never get drunk; but lot of sex

2. If Antares is your Lucky star sighted by Mars follow the above recommendation with some modifications to suit your temperament and chemistry

3. If Antares is your rising star get into politics straightaway

4. If Antares is your culminating star it is better for you to get a job in the Government service where your function is to regulate people, commerce & industry

5. Women born under the star are susceptible to pregnancy related problems

6. Recommended gems include: Carnelian, Amethyst and Onyx.

You can contact me via E-mail:cosmicgems@gmail.com or Webpage http://www.cosmicgemslanka.com

Muthu Ashraff

Cosmic Adviser

 

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