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A Journey to the End of Time

The Solar System in 3D, in real time

A simulation of the Solar System driven by real ephemerides. The Sun, the planets, Pluto and the major moons, space probes, the International Space Station, nearby stars and the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way are where they really are at the chosen moment. You can run time from 1700 to 2100, fly from one object to another and look at the sky from anywhere on Earth.

Antares

Star

Facts

Distance
about 520 light-years (NASA APOD: about 550)
Spectral class
M1.5 Iab-Ib
Diameter
about 640 times the Sun
Mass
about 15 times the Sun
Surface temperature
3660 K
Apparent magnitude
0.96

Antares is a red supergiant of spectral class M1.5 Iab-Ib, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. Its name means “equal or rival of Mars”, for its colour, similar to the planet's.

Its surface is cool for a star, about 3400 °C, but Antares is enormous: placed where the Sun is, it would reach out to about 3 AU, beyond the orbit of Mars, and it shines about 75,000 times more than the Sun. It has about 15 times the mass of the Sun and is only 11 to 15 million years old.

Beside it is a smaller and much hotter companion, a blue star of class B4 V.

Sources