Compose a 1250 words assignment on the nature of the stars: agena. Needs to be plagiarism free! AGENA is part of the β Centaurus system Hadar, its second or alternative name, represents the spot at the knee of the centaur in the constellation. AGENA is supposedly derived from the Greek word ‘alpha’ or else the Latin word ‘gena’ which means “the knee.” Hadar means ground, soil, earth, and also “The settled land.” “The Horse’s Belly” or Mah Fuh, is the term used by the Chinese (OWL).

AGENA Hadar is most commonly referred to as Beta Centauri. It is the 10th brightest star, Rigil-Kent III, in the overall night sky, and the second brightest in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Beta Centauri, along with Alpha Centauri (Rigil Kentaurus), are the two pointers to the Southern Cross constellation. In location, Rigel Kentaurus, Alpha Centauri, which is closest to the Earth, lies on the left, while Hadar lies between Alpha and the Star (Kaler, 2009).

Hadar is a blue-white class B1 III giant and very luminous. What this means is when the fuel in the star’s core eventually dissipates, the helium core contracts because of gravitational pull and begins heating up. Hydrogen fusion expands into an outer shell, and expands out, brightening up the star. While expanding, the surface begins to cool and the star becomes a class M red giant. After it heats to 100 million degrees Kelvin, the helium begins fusing into carbon, and at a higher heat, it turns into oxygen. From this point on, the star is stabilized for a time. At this level, the star is a yellow-orange K giant (Kaler, 2011).

In reality, Hadar is sometimes considered as three stars but is really two stars, Hadar A, the brightest and the giant, and Hadar B. Both are still considered to be dwarf stars but in the giant category. Both orbit a centralized mass (the third ‘star’) that lies between the two stars. When looking at it, Hadar A appears to be orbiting around Hadar B, but the mass is the true central focus, and the two stars’ orbit paths meet on in only one spot (Davis, 2005).

AGENA Hadar, as a star in the constellation Beta (β) Centaurus Lupus Crux, had a declination in 1900 of -59.53’ and -60.22’ in 2000. Other important information is the right ascension: 14h 03m.