Episode 1344
Sagitta
Fri, 2021-Jan-08 00:05 UTC
Length - 2:17
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Friday, 8 January 2021 is Sagitta.
Sagitta is a dim but distinctive constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'arrow', and it should not be confused with the significantly larger constellation Sagittarius, the archer. It was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Although it dates to antiquity, Sagitta has no star brighter than 3rd magnitude and has the third-smallest area of all constellations.
Gamma Sagittae is the constellation's brightest star, with an apparent magnitude of 3.47. It is an ageing red giant star 90% as massive as the Sun that has cooled and expanded to a diameter 54 times greater than it. Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Theta Sagittae are each multiple stars whose components can be seen in small telescopes. V Sagittae is a cataclysmic variable—a binary star system composed of a white dwarf accreting mass of a donor star that is expected to go nova and briefly become the most luminous star in the Milky Way and one of the brightest stars in our sky around the year 2083. Two star systems in Sagitta have Jupiter-like planets, while a third—15 Sagittae—has a brown dwarf companion.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:05 UTC on Friday, 8 January 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Sagitta on Wikipedia.
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This has been Joey Standard. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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