"of 1,500 kilograms to an altitude of 700 kilometers. The rocket, named after Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, is a single-body launcher (no strap-on boosters) with three solid rocket stages: the P80 first stage, the Zefiro 23 second stage, and the Zefiro 9 third stage. The upper module is a liquid rocket called AVUM. The improved version of the P80 stage, the P120C, will be used as the side boosters of the Ariane 6. Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program (65%), followed by France (13%). Other participants include Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and"
"approximate shape of a right triangle, with Vega located at its right angle. The Summer Triangle is recognizable in the northern skies for there are few other bright stars in its vicinity. Vega's spectral class is A0V, making it a blue-tinged white main sequence star that is fusing hydrogen to helium in its core. Since more massive stars use their fusion fuel more quickly than smaller ones, Vega's main-sequence lifetime is roughly one billion years, a tenth of the Sun's. The current age of this star is about 455 million years, or up to about half its expected total main-sequence"
"Its luminosity joins with its relative proximity to the Earth—it is only 25 light-years away—to make it the fifth-brightest star in the night sky (see French and English Tragedy by George Croly). Vega is rendered decidedly oblate by its rapid rate of rotation, and since it is pole-on to the sun, it appears significantly larger to earthbound observers than it actually is. For this and a variety of other reasons Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed ""arguably the next most important star in the sky after the sun."" Based on an observed excess emission"
"Hughes et al. (2012) and the Herschel Space Telescope. Although a planet has yet to be directly observed around Vega, the presence of a planetary system can not yet be ruled out. Thus there could be smaller, terrestrial planets orbiting closer to the star. The inclination of planetary orbits around Vega is likely to be closely aligned to the equatorial plane of this star. From the perspective of an observer on a hypothetical planet around Vega, the Sun would appear as a faint 4.3 magnitude star in the Columba constellation. The name is believed to be derived from the Arabic"
"are defined by a 17-sided polygon. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between and . The International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted the three-letter abbreviation ""Lyr"" for the constellation in 1922. The brightest and by far the most well-known star in the constellation is Vega, a main-sequence star of spectral type A0Va. Only 7.7 parsecs distant, is a Delta Scuti variable, varying between magnitudes −0.02 and 0.07 over 0.2 days. On average, it is the second-brightest star of the northern hemisphere (after Arcturus) and the fifth-brightest"
"Alpha Vulpeculae Alpha Vulpeculae (α Vulpeculae, abbreviated Alf Vul, α Vul), also named Anser, is the brightest star in the constellation of Vulpecula. It is approximately 297 light-years from Earth. It forms a wide optical binary with 8 Vulpeculae. Alpha Vulpeculae is a red giant of spectral class M1 and has apparent magnitude +4.4. It has been analysed as a member of the Arcturus stream, a group of stars with high proper motion and metal-poor properties thought to be the remnants of a small galaxy consumed by the Milky Way. ""α Vulpeculae"" (Latinised to ""Alpha Vulpeculae"") is the system's Bayer"
"Vela (constellation) Vela is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship ""Argo Navis"", which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis. With an apparent magnitude of 1.8, its brightest star is the hot blue multiple star Gamma Velorum, one component of which is the brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the sky. Delta and Kappa Velorum, together with Epsilon and Iota Carinae, form the asterism known as the False Cross. 1.95-magnitude Delta is actually a triple or"
"the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, Vega, will be a pole star around 13,700 AD. Precession will eventually point the north celestial pole nearer the stars in the constellation Hercules, pointing towards Tau Herculis around 18,400 AD. The celestial pole will then return to the stars in constellation Draco (Thuban, mentioned above) before returning to the current constellation, Ursa Minor. When Polaris becomes the North Star again around 27,800 AD, due to its proper motion it then will be farther away from the pole than it is now, while in 23,600 BC it was closer to the"
"Vulpecula Vulpecula is a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for ""little fox"", although it is commonly known simply as the fox. It was identified in the seventeenth century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle (an asterism consisting of the bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair). There are no stars brighter than 4th magnitude in this constellation. The brightest star in Vulpecula is Alpha Vulpeculae, a magnitude 4.44 red giant at a distance of 297 light-years. The star is an optical binary (separation of 413.7"") that can be split using binoculars. The"
"star in all, surpassed only by Arcturus, Alpha Centauri, Canopus, and Sirius. Vega was the pole star in the year 12,000 BCE, and will again become the pole star around 14,000 CE. Vega is one of the most-magnificent of all stars, and has been called ""arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun"". Vega was the first star other than the Sun to be photographed, as well as the first to have a clear spectrum recorded, showing absorption lines for the first time. The star was the first single main-sequence star other than the Sun to"
"from the Sun to the faintest object visible with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST): Under the Vega system for measuring the brightness of astronomical brightness, the star Vega is defined to have an apparent magnitude of zero as measured through all filters, although this is only an approximation e.g. its actual brightness has been measured to be 0.03 in the V (visual) band. The brightest star, Sirius, has a Vega magnitude of −1.46. or −1.5. However, Vega has been found to vary in brightness, and other standards are in common use. One such system is the AB magnitude system, in"
"a cluster of several hundred young stars that power an HII region. The star-forming region lies in Clump 6 in the Vela Molecular Ridge Cloud C. Vela (constellation) Vela is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship ""Argo Navis"", which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis. With an apparent magnitude of 1.8, its brightest star is the hot blue multiple star Gamma Velorum, one component of which is the brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the"
"velocity components of Vega are (U, V, W) = , for a net space velocity of 19 km/s. The radial component of this velocity—in the direction of the Sun—is −13.9 km/s, while the transverse velocity is 9.9 km/s. Although Vega is at present only the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, the star is slowly brightening as proper motion causes it to approach the Sun. Vega will make its closest approach in an estimated 264,000 years at a perihelion distance of . Based on this star's kinematic properties, it appears to belong to a stellar association called the Castor Moving"
"which time the pole of the Earth's rotation follows a circular path across the celestial sphere that passes near several prominent stars. At present the pole star is Polaris, but around 12,000 BC the pole was pointed only five degrees away from Vega. Through precession, the pole will again pass near Vega around AD 14,000. Vega is the brightest of the successive northern pole stars. This star lies at a vertex of a widely spaced asterism called the Summer Triangle, which consists of Vega plus the two first-magnitude stars Altair, in Aquila, and Deneb in Cygnus. This formation is the"
"Pole star. Around 12,000 BC the pole was pointed only five degrees away from Vega and through precession, the pole will again pass near Vega around AD 14,000. Medieval astrologers counted Vega as one of the Behenian stars and related it to chrysolite and winter savory. Cornelius Agrippa listed its kabbalistic sign under ""Vultur cadens"", a literal Latin translation of the Arabic name. Its celestial longitude was 15 Cap. 19 as of 2006. In Vedic Astrology the Nakshatra Abhijit is known as Vega. Stars in astrology In astrology, certain stars are considered significant. Historically, all of the various heavenly bodies"
"likely variable in the 1-2% range, with possible occasional excursions to as much as 4% from the mean"". Also, a 2011 article affirms on its abstract that ""The long-term (year-to-year) variability of Vega was confirmed"". Vega became the first solitary main-sequence star beyond the Sun known to be an X-ray emitter when in 1979 it was observed from an imaging X-ray telescope launched on an Aerobee 350 from the White Sands Missile Range. In 1983, Vega became the first star found to have a disk of dust. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) discovered an excess of infrared radiation coming from"
"is observed from the direction of one of these poles. Based on an observed excess emission of infrared radiation, Vega appears to have a circumstellar disk of dust. This dust is likely to be the result of collisions between objects in an orbiting debris disk, which is analogous to the Kuiper belt in the Solar System. Stars that display an infrared excess due to dust emission are termed Vega-like stars. ""α Lyrae"" (Latinised to ""Alpha Lyrae"") is the star's Bayer designation. The traditional name ""Vega"" (earlier ""Wega"") comes from a loose transliteration of the Arabic word ' meaning ""falling"" or"
"Virgo (constellation) Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is ♍. Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second-largest constellation in the sky (after Hydra) and the largest constellation in the zodiac. It can be easily found through its brightest star, Spica. The bright star Spica makes it easy to locate Virgo, as it can be found by following the curve of the Big Dipper/Plough to Arcturus in Boötes and continuing from there in the same curve (""follow the arc to Arcturus"
"the star, and this was attributed to energy emitted by the orbiting dust as it was heated by the star. Vega can often be seen near the zenith in the mid-northern latitudes during the evening in the Northern Hemisphere summer. From mid-southern latitudes, it can be seen low above the northern horizon during the Southern Hemisphere winter. With a declination of +38.78°, Vega can only be viewed at latitudes north of 51° S. Therefore, it does not rise at all anywhere in Antarctica or in the southernmost part of South America, including Punta Arenas, Chile (53° S). At latitudes to"
"element, the constellation was not an integral part of the old Argo Navis and hence did not share in the original Bayer designations of that constellation, which were split between Carina, Vela and Puppis. Pyxis is a faint constellation, its three brightest stars—Alpha, Beta and Gamma Pyxidis—forming a rough line. Overall, there are 41 stars within the constellation's borders with apparent magnitudes brighter than or equal to 6.5. With an apparent magnitude of 3.68, Alpha Pyxidis is the brightest star in the constellation. Located 880 ± 30 light-years distant from Earth, it is a blue-white giant star of spectral type"
"be known to emit X-rays, and is surrounded by a circumstellar debris disk, similar to the Kuiper Belt. Vega forms one corner of the famous Summer Triangle asterism; along with Altair and Deneb, these three stars form a prominent triangle during the northern hemisphere summer. Vega also forms one vertex of a much smaller triangle, along with Epsilon and Zeta Lyrae. Zeta forms a wide binary star visible in binoculars, consisting of an Am star and an F-type subgiant. The Am star has an additional close companion, bringing the total number of stars in the system to three. Epsilon is"
"BC and will be so again around the year 13,727, when the declination will be +86°14'. Vega was the first star other than the Sun to be photographed and the first to have its spectrum recorded. It was one of the first stars whose distance was estimated through parallax measurements. Vega has functioned as the baseline for calibrating the photometric brightness scale and was one of the stars used to define the mean values for the UBV photometric system. Vega is only about a tenth of the age of the Sun, but since it is 2.1 times as massive, its"
"designation. It bore the traditional name ""Anser"", derived from when the constellation had the name ""Vulpecula cum Ansere"" 'the little fox with the goose'. In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ""Anser"" for this star on 30 June 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. Alpha Vulpeculae Alpha Vulpeculae (α Vulpeculae, abbreviated Alf Vul, α Vul), also named Anser, is the brightest star in the constellation of Vulpecula. It is approximately 297 light-years from Earth."
"Omega Virginis Omega Virginis (ω Vir, ω Virginis) is a solitary star in the zodiac constellation Virgo. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +5.22, which is bright enough to be faintly visible to the naked eye. Based upon an annual stellar parallax shift of 6.56 milliarcseconds, it is located about 500 light years from the Sun. This is a red giant star with a stellar classification of M4 III. It is a semiregular variable with a brightness that varies over an amplitude of 0.28 with periods of 30 and 275 days. After evolving away from the main sequence it"
"Alpha Andromedae Alpha Andromedae (α Andromedae, abbreviated Alpha And or α And), also named Alpheratz, is located 97 light-years from the Sun and is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda. Located immediately northeast of the constellation of Pegasus, it is the upper left star of the Great Square of Pegasus. Although it appears to the naked eye as a single star, with overall apparent visual magnitude +2.06, it is actually a binary system composed of two stars in close orbit. The chemical composition of the brighter of the two stars is unusual as it is a mercury-manganese star"
"It is also one of fifteen Behenian stars, associated with agate and water crowfoot. According to Cornelius Agrippa, its kabbalistic symbol is . In the astrology of the Middle Ages, Sirius was a Behenian fixed star, associated with beryl and juniper. Its kabbalistic symbol was listed by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Its celestial longitude was 14 Can. 05 as of 2006. Vega (or Wega) takes its name from a loose transliteration of the Arabic word """" meaning ""falling"". Its constellation (Lyre) was represented as a vulture or eagle so that Vega was referred to as the 'falling vulture/eagle'. This is a"
"Omicron Velorum Omicron Velorum (ο Vel, ο Velorum) is a star in the constellation Vela. It is the brightest member of the loose naked eye open cluster IC 2391, also known as the ο Velorum Cluster. Omicron Velorum is a blue-white B-type subgiant with a mean apparent magnitude of +3.60. It is approximately 495 light years from Earth. A slowly pulsating B star, it ranges between magnitudes 3.57 and 3.63 over 2.8 days. The correct Bayer designation for ο Velorum has been debated. Lacaille assigned one Greek letter sequence for the bright stars of Argo Navis. These Lacaille designations are"
"Spica Spica, also designated Alpha Virginis (α Virginis, abbreviated Alpha Vir, α Vir), is the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. Analysis of its parallax shows that it is located 250 ± 10 light years from the Sun. It is a spectroscopic binary and rotating ellipsoidal variable; a system whose two main stars are so close together they are egg-shaped rather than spherical, and can only be separated by their spectra. The primary is a blue giant and a variable star of the Beta Cephei type. Spica, along"
"is not known to host planets. Beta Canum Venaticorum Beta Canum Venaticorum (β Canum Venaticorum, abbreviated Beta CVn, β CVn), also named Chara, is a G-type main-sequence star in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici. At an apparent visual magnitude of 4.26, it is the second-brightest star in the constellation. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 118.49 mas, this star is distant from the Sun. Along with the brighter star Cor Caroli, the pair form the ""southern dog"" in this constellation that represents hunting dogs. ""β Canum Venaticorum"" (Latinised to ""Beta Canum Venaticorum"") is the star's Bayer designation. The"
"sails), and Puppis (the poop deck). Despite the division, Lacaille kept Argo's Bayer designations. Therefore, Carina has the Alpha, Beta and Epsilon originally assigned to Argo Navis, while Vela's brightest stars are Gamma and Delta, Puppis has Zeta as its brightest star, and so on. Vela is bordered by Antlia and Pyxis to the north, Puppis to the northwest, Carina to the south and southwest, and Centaurus to the east. Covering 500 square degrees, it ranks 32nd of the 88 modern constellations in size. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is"
"Alpha Phoenicis Alpha Phoenicis (α Phoenicis, abbreviated Alpha Phe or α Phe), also named Ankaa, is the brightest star in the constellation of Phoenix. ""Alpha Phoenicis"" is the star's Bayer designation. It also bore the traditional name Ankaa sometime after 1800, from the Arabic العنقاء ""al-ʿanqā’"" ""the phoenix"" for the name of the constellation. Medieval Arab astronomers formed the constellation of the dhow (where Phoenix is), so another popular name for the star is ""Nair al Zaurak"" from نائر الزوق ""na’ir az-zawraq"" ""the bright (star) of the skiff"". The Latin translation is ""Cymbae,"" from ""lūcida cumbae"". In 2016, the International"
"Gamma Pegasi Gamma Pegasi (γ Pegasi, abbreviated Gamma Peg or γ Peg), also named Algenib, is a star in the constellation of Pegasus, located at the southeast corner of the asterism known as the Great Square. The average apparent visual magnitude of +2.84 puts this at fourth place among the brightest stars in the constellation. The distance to this star has been measured using the parallax technique, yielding a value of roughly with a margin of error of 5%. ""Gamma Pegasi"" is the star's Bayer designation. Although it also had the traditional name ""Algenib"", this name was also used for"
"Corvus (constellation) Corvus is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. Its name means ""raven"" in Latin. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, it depicts a raven, a bird associated with stories about the god Apollo, perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. The four brightest stars, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Beta Corvi, form a distinctive quadrilateral in the night sky. With an apparent magnitude of 2.59, Gamma Corvi—also known as Gienah—is the brightest star in the constellation. It is an aging blue giant around four times as massive as the Sun."