Libra Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

The ancient Egyptians saw in the constellation of Libra the weighing scales of Anubis, the God of the dead. In the myth, the deceased arrives at the kingdom of Anubis, who places the newcomer's heart on weighing scales; on the other side, the pen of truth was given to him by the goddess Maat.

According to the story, if the dead man's heart and the feather were in balance, it means that he was a good person in life. Then Anubis would be in charge of guiding him to the kingdom of Osiris. Still, if the heart passed more than the pen, it meant that he had committed many sins while alive and, therefore, would be condemned for eternity.

For ancient Egyptians, the constellation Libra did not represent a scale but a door through which all the planets passed.

The Greeks did not relate Libra to a gate, but neither did they consider it a living being. Instead, they saw this constellation as part of the constellation of Scorpius, specifically, as part of its head.

Later a constellation was related to Themis, the Greek goddess of justice, and her daughter Astrea. They would rise to the sky, becoming the constellation of Virgo.

As both goddesses were carriers of the weighing scales of justice, the head of the scorpion went on to become such a weighing scale, acquiring the name of Libra.

Recently Dr. Javier de Cos of the University of Oviedo, in conjunction with a team of researchers from the Astrophysical Institute of the Canary Islands, discovered that one of the stars in the constellation of Libra has an exoplanet (a planet that is orbiting a star other than the Sun).

The discovery was carried out with the Kepler space telescope and the OSIRIS modules of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and HARPS-N of the Galileo National Telescope (TNG).

It is located at a distance of 244 light-years away. This star has 0.62 of the radius of the SunSun and a temperature of only 3650º C, so it can be said that it is much smaller and colder.

The exoplanet has 2.1 times the radius of the Earth and, according to the survey, could have a temperature between 40º C and 60º C, so it could have liquid water, which makes it a significant candidate to host earthly life.

Libra is a southern constellation and is part of the zodiacal constellations, which is why it is visible worldwide. The only regions where it cannot be seen are the northern regions above 65th latitude, which is Northern Canada and Northern Europe.

Libra resides in the third quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ3).

Libra is visible at latitudes between + 65 ° and -90 °, which means that we can see the constellation in the night sky from almost all parts of the world, including Antarctica.

Libra can be observed in North America, Europe, and Russia. Still, it is no longer visible in areas closer to the North Pole.

Libra is also visible in South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Libra is visible in the spring and summer season (in the Northern Hemisphere) between March and September, but the best time of year to see it is in June, when it is highest in the sky.

To locate the constellation of Libra, it is easier if you first discover the constellation of Scorpius or the constellation of Virgo because Libra is located right in the middle of the two.

The two brightest stars in the constellation are at the ends.

Many associate it with the shape of a rhombus or quadrilateral pointing downwards, where its two brightest stars form the four sides.

The bordering constellations of Libra are Virgo, Hydra, Centaurus (corner), Lupus, Scorpius, and Ophiuchus.

Libra belongs to 12 zodiac constellations alongside Aries, Gemini, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The brightest stars in Libra are Zubeneschamali, Zubenelgenubi, Zubenelakrab, and Brachium. These four stars make up the main quadrilateral of the constellation Libra.

In historical terms, another vital star of Libra is Methuselah, as it is the oldest star in the known universe.

In addition, Libra encompasses variable stars that change in magnitude (brightness) during the year. Some of these stars can become twice as bright or dimmer.

And it also has binary star systems, that is, double stars.

Beta Librae is a blue-white dwarf and the most luminous star in Libra's constellation.

It is located 185 light-years from our solar system. It is a B8 V category star, which means that Beta Librae is a fast spinner that spins at 250 km / s.

It is 130 times brighter than the SunSun and is 4.9 times its size. Although generally classified as an individual star, this shows slight periodic luminosity variations of 0.03 magnitude, meaning it must have a much smaller stellar companion.

It is a white dwarf composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium with1% iron. It is located only 202 light-years from the Earth.

The estimated age of this star is 14.5 billion years, making it the oldest star in the entire universe on record.

Everything indicates that this star was created a few years after the Big Bang. Thanks to the small percentages of metals it contains, it is known that there must have been a generation of stars before the age of Methuselah.

The star Methuselah was part of a dwarf galaxy that the Milky Way eventually absorbed, thus forming part of our galaxy.

Alpha Librae is the second brightest star in the constellation Libra. It is a "Quintuple" star.

The two brightest components of the system form a binary star that shares an ordinary motion, followed by Alpha-1 Librae that passes right in front of the two main components, attenuating them when viewed from Earth.

In turn, Alpha-1 Librae forms a second binary system with Alpha-2.

And finally, it is estimated that the star KU Librae could be the fifth component of the Alpha Librae system, which would be much further away from the rest of the components.

The entire system is found at an average distance of 77 light-years from ours.

Sigma Libra is a red giant with a temperature of 3600 K, 1900 times more luminous than the SunSun, and is 288 light-years away.

It has the characteristic of being a semi-regular variable star with a pulsation period of 20 days, which makes it an excellent tool for measuring interstellar distances.

It is a blue supergiant star located 513 light-years from Earth that has an extremely high rotational speed of 400 km/s.

This rotation speed means that the star does not have a spherical shape like all other stars in the universe but has a bulging body at the equator.

This causes the temperatures at the star's poles to be higher than at the equator.

Because of this same phenomenon, the star's poles are hotter and more luminous than the rest of the star.

Gliese 581, also known as HO Librae, is a red dwarf star that lies 20.3 light-years away with the stellar classification of M3V.

The data indicate that it has a third of the mass of the SunSun and 0.2 percent of its brightness.

The most popular or essential fact about Gliese 581 is its planetary system with three or even six planets. The first of these planets to be discovered was Gliese 581 c in April 2007.

This planet is most likely in a region where it is too hot to host liquid water or an atmosphere. It is very similar to that of the planet Venus if it has.

Gliese 581 d is a hypothetical planet that could be inside or outside the system's habitable zone. Gliese 581, both worlds were theorized because the star shows variations in luminosity, indicating the transit of planets.

In September 2010, a sixth planet was proposed. If its existence is confirmed, it would be the most suitable planet to host life besides the Earth since it is located right in the middle of the habitable zone of the star Gliese 581.

The habitable zone is a region in solar systems where the temperature is ideal (neither too hot nor too cold) to house water in a liquid state, an indispensable requirement for life to arise.

Being so small, Libra is one of the constellations with fewer bodies of deep space, having only 4.

The constellation of Libra has associated a meteor shower called The Delta Librids between March 21 and 22, marking the vernal equinox.

The source of the bodies in this meteor shower comes from asteroid 2003 MU.

• Libra is the only constellation of the zodiac that is not represented by a living being because it was initially part of the constellation of the scorpion.
• Previously the constellation Libra served as a guide for astronomers to locate planets in the sky, as they passed right in the middle of the two brightest stars in the constellation.

• The constellation of Libra is the only constellation of the zodiac that is not associated with a living being.
• Different cultures associated it with balance, the duality between life and death, or truth and lies, hence LIBRA, which means "Weighing scales" in Latin.
• Although it is a small constellation, it contains fascinating bodies such as the planetary system of the star Gliese 581, which could host water or even life.
• Its two brightest stars are Beta Libra and Alpha Libra.
• To find the constellation of Libra is easiest to locate the constellation of Scorpio or Virgo first since it is located right between those two.
• Although it is mainly visible in the south, it is also visible in the northern regions such as Europe, North America, or Russia. Still, it is not visible in areas close to the north pole.
• The best month of the year to observe Libra is June.
• It is also associated with a meteor shower in March.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/libra-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-libra.html
3. https://theskylive.com/sky/constellations/libra-constellation
4. https://www.corax.com/tarot/astrology/libra.html