Lupus 6

Alpha Lupi (α Lup / α Lupi) est l'étoile la plus brillante de la constellation du Loup. C'est une étoile variable de type Beta Cephei.

Beta Lupi (β Lup / β Lup) is a Class B2III, third-magnitude star in the constellation Lupus. It is given the Chinese proper name Kekouan, meaning "Cavalry Officer", which is a name it shares with Kappa Centauri.[1] It lies close to the supernova remnant of SN 1006.
This star is a blue giant, located about 525 light-years from Earth.

Gamma Lupi (γ Lup / γ Lup) is a Class B2IV, third-magnitude star in the constellation Lupus. It is sometimes called by the Greek proper name Thusia, meaning "The Sacrifice" or Thusia Theriou, meaning "The Animal Sacrifice".
This star is a blue giant, located about 565 light-years from Earth.

Delta Lupi (δ Lup / δ Lup) is a Class B2IV, third-magnitude star in the constellation Lupus. It is sometimes called by the Greek proper name Hilasmus (ιλασμος), meaning "The Propitiation".
This star is a blue-white subgiant, located about 510 light-years from Earth.

Lupus 5

This constellation seems to have been an unidentified animal for both the Greeks and Romans, simply known as Therion. Both cultures thought Centaurus was offering this animal as a sacrifice. By the time Johann Bayer published his catalogue of constellations in the early seventeenth century, the animal was considered a wolf.

Lupus or the wolf. Filomeleo son of Demeter and Yasonte was the first agriculturist of the world according to Greek mythology. It seems to be that his Licaón grandfathers invited to Zeus to a banquet and he served to him to his own Arcade grandson like food. Zeus recomposed theA body of this one and he turned it star, Arcturus (a Bootis); but according to another version after recomposing the body of Arcade occurred it to raise to a goatherd and punished to the grandfathers turning it a wolf or Lupus and setting afire its mansion.

Lupus, is precious austral constellation that crosses the parallel of 40º of South latitude. One is in a rich zone in stars since it is practically in the equator of the Milky Route, therefore we can observe great amount of stellar and globular clusters. He is visible in the South hemisphere during the months of February to October and in the North hemisphere it culminates to very little distance of the observable horizon during the month of June, is easy to identify it if we left from Scorpius and we observed the Eastern zone of the same one.

Lupus limits the north with the constellations from Scorpius and Libra to the east with Centaurus, the south with Circinus and the west with the constellations of Norma and Scorpius again.

Lupus I located the 2 to it of May of 1986 at the age of 19 years from the locality of Cán Picafort, Majorca, Spain, logically, where I write these lines to you from the parallel +40º of North latitude Lupus it culminates to few degrees of the horizon and is observable the North zone of the constellation; I hope in future trips to be able to contemplate it completely.






Main stars

Alpha, a; of magnitude 2.29 and blue color. Earth light is to 548 years, is a blue giant 2800 times more shining than our Sun.

Beta, b; of magnitude 2.68 and blue color. One is another blue supergiant 1800 times more luminous than our Sun that is to 524 years Earth light.

Gamma, g; about 2.78 magnitude and also blue color is a blue supergiant 1900 times more luminous than the Sun that dista of us 174 years light.

Other objects

NGC 5824, precious globular cluster of magnitude 9.0 of 6' of diameter arc, is to 80,000 years Earth light. One is located in the North zone near Libra.

NGC 5986, precious globular cluster of magnitude 7.1 of 6' of diameter arc, is to 34,000 years Earth light. One is in the central zone of the constellation.

NGC 5927, precious globular cluster of magnitude 8.3 of 12' of diameter arc, is to 29,000 years Earth light. One is closely together in the South zone of the constellation of the constellation of Norm.

NGC 5749, stellar cluster of magnitude 8.80 of 8' of diameter arc that is to 2900 years light of us. It has a considered age of 91 million years. It is formed by star of the tenth and eleventh magnitude. It is located closely together to the south of the constellation of the limit with the constellation of Norma.

Lupus 4

The constellation may refer to the ancient king of Arcadia, King Lycaon (a word which is related to both 'wolf' and 'light').
King Lycaon, who ruled Arcadia with his fifty sons, was said to continue the practice of human sacrifice when other parts of Greece had abolished it as barbaric.
One variation of the story has King Lycaon offering Zeus the sacrifice of a young boy, which angered Zeus so much he promptly changed Lycaon into a wolf and struck his house down with lightning, killing all his fifty sons.
In another version Zeus one day visited Arcadia disguised as a simple traveller. Lycaon and his sons offered him soup made not only from the meat of goats and sheep, but also of his own son Nyctimus. Zeus overthrew the table in disgust and killed all the king's sons with lightning bolts (restoring the life of Nyctimus in the process).
While it may seem ludicrous to memorialise this barbaric King of Arcadia, even prior to the Greeks the constellation seems to have represented a sacrificial animal of some sort.
The asterism is not very obvious, and in fact the constellation itself is fairly difficult to separate from its closest neighbour Centaurus.
Lupus is narrowly squeezed between Centaurus and Hydra to the west, Scorpius and Norma to the east. Although small, since it lies in the Milky Way it is packed with interesting items, especially double stars.

The Bayer stars are generally third and fourth magnitude. To locate Lupus, one might first begin with the arms of Centaurus (if need be, one can review this constellation from the Archives). Starting at theta Centauri starhop to phi Centauri then eta and finally kappa Centauri.
In the same field to the south is beta Lupi, which at 2.7 magnitude is slightly brighter than kappa Centauri (3.1). Now drop down to the southwest some five degrees and you'll find alpha Lupi.
Alpha Lupi (a beta Cephei variable) is the brightest star of the constellation at 2.3 magnitude. There is some dispute over its distance; some authorities put it at 430 light years, while others at around 620. From the absolute magnitude of -4.4, it would have a distance of 710 light years.

Double stars in Lupus:
Gamma Lupi is a very close binary with a nearly edge-on orbit whose period is 147 years. Currently the companion is at the greatest distance: PA 274º, separation 0.68".
Epsilon Lupi is also a close binary: 3.4, 5.5; 247º, 0.6".
Eta Lupi is a pleasant fixed binary with slight colour contrast: 3.4, 7.8; 20º, 15".
Kappa1 and kappa2 form a wide fixed binary: 3.9, 5.7; 144º, 27".
Mu Lupi is a multiple system. AB: 5.1, 5.2; 142 degrees, 1.2". The third component is much easier: PA 130º, 24".
Xi1 and xi2 Lupi are a fixed pair. This double is the most attractive binary in Lupus: 5.3, 5.8; 49º, 10.4".

Variable stars in Lupus:
Lupus has three beta Cephei variables among its Bayer stars.
Beta Cephei variables are pulsating variables (prototypes are beta Cephei and beta Canis Majoris). These are massive and very luminous stars which rapidly rotate. The range of magnitude change is very small.
Alpha Lupi: 2.29-2.34; period 6h14m.
Delta Lupi: 3.2-3.24; period 3h58m.
Tau1 Lupi: 4.54-4.58; period 4h15m.

Lupus 3

Lupus
The Wolf



Origin of the Constellation

The Wolf is usually pictured as hanging from a pole carried by the Centaur, which is the next constellation to the west. The writers of classical times considered this area of the sky to be part of the Centaur. They considered this area of the sky to represent an unspecified beast being carried by the Centaur. According to Ridpath it was only in Renaissance times that the constellation become identified with a wolf.
There seems to be no classical mythology connected with this dim area of the sky

Lupus 2

The ancient Greeks called this constellation Therium, representing an unspecified wild animal, while the Romans called it Bestia, the Beast. It was visualized as impaled on a long pole called a thyrsus, held by the adjoining constellation of Centaurus, the Centaur. Consequently, the constellations of the Centaur and the animal were usually regarded as a combined figure.

According to the historian George Michanowsky in his book The Once and Future Star, the Babylonians knew this constellation as UR-IDIM, meaning ‘wild dog’. Eratosthenes said that the Centaur was holding the animal towards the altar (the constellation Ara) as though about to sacrifice it. Hyginus referred to the animal as simply ‘a victim’, while Germanicus Caesar said that the Centaur was either carrying game from the woods, or was bringing gifts to the altar. The identification of this constellation with a wolf seems to have started in Renaissance times.
One is tempted to recall the story of Lycaon, king of the Arcadians, who served Zeus with the flesh of the god’s own son and was punished by being turned into a wolf (see Boötes). But that story has no connection with this constellation, which seems to have been overlooked by the mythologists. The fact that it is an imported constellation probably explains why the Greeks had no myths for it. None of the stars of Lupus have names.