Zeta² Scorpii
Encyclopedia
For other stars with this Bayer designation
Bayer designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name...

, see Zeta Scorpii
Zeta Scorpii
The Bayer designation Zeta Scorpii is shared by two stars in the constellation Scorpius:* ζ¹ Scorpii * ζ² Scorpii...

.

Zeta² Scorpii (Zeta² Sco, ζ² Scorpii, ζ² Sco) is a K-type orange giant
Giant star
A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main sequence star of the same surface temperature. Typically, giant stars have radii between 10 and 100 solar radii and luminosities between 10 and 1,000 times that of the Sun. Stars still more luminous than giants are...

 star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

 in the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

 of Scorpius. It has an apparent visual magnitude which varies between 3.59 and 3.65, and is located near the blue-white supergiant star Zeta-1 Scorpii in our sky, although it is, in astronomical terms, far more distant and unrelated to Zeta-1 Scorpii except for line-of sight co-incidence. Zeta-1 is five thousand seven hundred light-years away and probably an outlying member of open star cluster NGC 6231
NGC 6231
NGC 6231 is an open cluster located near Zeta Scorpii. Zeta1 is a member of this star cluster....

, also known as the "northern jewel box" cluster, whereas Zeta-2 is a mere 155 lightyears distant and thus much less luminous in real terms. Zeta-2 Scorpii can also be distinguished from its optical partner, Zeta-1, because of Zeta-2's orangish colour especially in long-exposure astrophographs.
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