Zeta Ophiuchi — Estrella en Ofiuco

Zeta Ophiuchi is a hot blue estrella de secuencia principal of tipo espectral O9.5V at magnitude 2.56, one of the few O-type stars visible to the simple vista. Located a aproximadamente 460 años luz de la Tierra, it has a temperatura superficial of about 34,000 K and a luminosity around 90,000 veces la solar. Zeta Oph is a famous runaway star — it is hurtling through space at about 30 km/s, likely ejected when its companion star exploded as a supernova.

Located in the southern part of Ophiuchus, near the border with Scorpius. It appears as a bright blue-white star in a relatively sparse región of sky. The infrared bow shock it creates as it plows through interstellar gas is a famous Spitzer Space Telescope image but is not visible in amateur instruments. Mejor observación from June through September.

Zeta Ophiuchi has no traditional proper name. Its runaway nature was discovered in the mid-20th century when movimiento propio studies showed it moving at an abnormally high velocity. Tracing its path backward in time points to the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association, confirming it was ejected from a sistema binario about 1–2 million years ago.