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Zeta2 Scorpii
Star in the constellation Scorpius. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Zeta2 Scorpii (Zeta2 Sco, ζ2 Scorpii, ζ2 Sco) is a star in the constellation of Scorpius. With an apparent visual magnitude variying s between 3.59 and 3.65, this star is visible to the naked eye. Parallax measurements derive a distance of 135 light-years to the star.[1]
The spectrum of this star matches a spectral class of K4 III,[3] with the luminosity class "III" classifying it as a giant star that has exhausted all the hydrogen at its core and has expanded. Around six billion years old, this 1.18-solar mass star has swollen to 18.7 solar diameters and now radiates 130 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere. The effective temperature of the star has cooled to 4,286 K,[7] giving it the orangish hue typical of a K-type star.[9]
Zeta2 is located near the blue-white supergiant star ζ1 Scorpii in Earth's sky. In astronomical terms, ζ2 is much closer to the Sun and unrelated to ζ1 except for line-of sight co-incidence. ζ1 is about 6,000 light-years away and probably an outlying member of open star cluster NGC 6231 (also known as the "northern jewel box" cluster). ζ2 can also be distinguished from its optical partner, ζ1, because of its orangish colour especially in long-exposure astrophotographs.
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