Last modified: 2003-07-05 by joe mcmillan
Keywords: star (white) | star: 5 points | globe | southern cross | cruzeiro | astronomy |
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![[Celestial Globe on the Brazilian
Flag]](../images/b/br_globe.gif)
Unlike the stars on the American flag, each particular star on the Brazilian flag represents one particular state. All stars are actually present in the night sky, which is depicted as if seen from above (i.e. from outside the illusory 'globe' that the night sky appears to be when seen from Earth), and positioned as they would have been on 15 November 1889 at 08:30 over Rio de Janeiro. There are 5 orders of magnitude (.30, .25, .20, .14 and .10 times 1/14 of the width of the flag respectively). These magnitudes do not directly correspond to the astronomical magnitudes, but are relative to them. (The stars are identified by colour on the image to their right -- these colours do not correspond to their real colour, either astronomically or on the flag)
| State | Star | Constellation | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazonas | Alpha Canis Minoris (Procyon) | Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog | 1 |  |
| Mato Grosso | Alpha Canis Majoris (Sirius) | Canis Major, the Greater Dog | 1 | |
| Amapá | Beta Canis Majoris (Mirzam) | Canis Major, the Greater Dog | 3 | |
| Rondônia | Gamma Canis Majoris (Muliphen) | Canis Major, the Greater Dog | 4 | |
| Roraima | Delta Canis Majoris (Wezen) | Canis Major, the Greater Dog | 2 |  |
| Tocantins | Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) | Canis Major, the Greater Dog | 2 | |
| Pará | Alpha Virginis (Spica) | Virgo, the Virgin | 1 | |
| Piauí | Alpha Scorpii (Antares) | Scorpius, the Scorpion | 1 | |
| Maranhão | Beta Scorpii (Graffias) | Scorpius, the Scorpion | 3 |  |
| Ceará | Epsilon Scorpii | Scorpius, the Scorpion | 2 | |
| Alagoas | Theta Scorpii (Sargas) | Scorpius, |