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Scorpius (abbr. Sco, gen. Scorpii)
The Scorpion; a prominent constellation of the southern hemisphere and the eighth of the zodiac. Scorpius is one of the few constellations to actually looks like what it represents. It lies south of Ophiuchus and west of the northern part of Centaurus. See below for details of the constellation's brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.
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| Scorpius. © 2003 Torsten Bronger.
Copied here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star | Visual mag. |
Abs. mag. |
Spectral type |
Distance (lt-yr) |
R.A. (h m s) | Dec. ( ° ' '' ) |
| Alpha (Antares) | 1.06v | -5.28 | M1.5Iab+B4V | 604 | 16 29 24 | -26 25 55 |
| Lambda (Shaula) | 1.62 | -5.05 | B2IV+B | 703 | 17 33 36 | -37 06 14 |
| Theta (Sargas) | 1.86 | -2.75 | F1II | 272 | 17 37 19 | -42 59 52 |
| Epsilon (Wei) | 2.29 | 0.78 | K2.5III | 65 | 16 50 10 | -34 17 36 |
| Delta (Dschubba) | 2.29 | -3.16 | B0.3IV | 402 | 16 00 20 | -22 37 18 |
| Kappa (Girtab) | 2.39 | -3.38 | B1.5III | 464 | 17 42 29 | -39 01 48 |
| Beta (Graffias) | 2.56 | -3.50 | B1V+B2V | 530 | 16 05 26 | -19 48 19 |
| Upsilon (Lesath) | 2.70 | -3.31 | B2IV | 519 | 17 30 46 | -37 17 45 |
| Tau | 2.82 | -2.78 | B0V | 430 | 16 35 53 | -28 12 58 |
| Sigma (Alniyat) | 2.90v | -3.87 | B2III+O9.5V | 735 | 16 21 11 | -25 35 34 |
| Pi | 2.89 | -2.86 | B1V+B2V | 459 | 15 58 51 | -26 06 50 |
| Iota-1 | 2.99 | -5.71 | F3Iae | 1,790 | 17 47 35 | -40 07 37 |
| Mu-1 | 3.00 | -4.01 | B1.5V+B6.5V | 822 | 16 51 52 | -38 02 51 |
| Eta | 3.32 | 1.61 | F3Vp | 72 | 17 12 09 | -43 14 21 |
| Mu-2 | 3.56 | -2.44 | B2IV | 517 | 16 52 20 | -38 01 03 |
| Zeta-2 | 3.62 | 0.30 | K4III | 151 | 16 54 35 | -42 21 41 |
| Rho | 3.87 | -1.63 | B2IV | 409 | 15 56 53 | -29 12 50 |
| Omega-1 (Jabhat al Akrab) | 3.93 | -1.64 | B1V | 424 | 16 06 48 | -20 40 09 |
| Other objects of interest | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Type of Object | Notes |
| Butterfly Cluster | open cluster | M6. See separate entry |
| M7 (NGC 6475) | open cluster | One of the finest open clusters in the northern hemisphere, best seen with binoculars. It encompasses many bright stars loosely concentrated at the center. Telescopes show, at the western edge, but still within the cluster's boundaries, the faint globular cluster NGC 6453. Magnitude 3.3; diameter 80'; R.A. 17h 53.9m, Dec. -22° 59' |
| NGC 6231 | open cluster | Over 100 stars in a compact 15' area; this cluster lies on another spiral arm of our galaxy, closer to the galactic center |
| M4 (NGC 6121) | globular cluster | A large, loosely concentrated cluster, 1.5o W of Antares. Some of its brightest members appear to form a bar through the center. Magnitude 5.9; diameter 26.3'; R.A. 16h 23.6m, Dec. -26° 32' |
| M80 (NGC 6093) | globular cluster | A small, tightly concentrated object, difficult to resolve into stars, and then only around the edges; a fuzzy ball seen in binoculars. Magnitude 7.2; diameter 8.9'; R.A. 16h 17.0m, Dec. -22° 59' |
| Scorpius X-1 | X-ray binary | See separate entry |
| Constellations |
| Andromeda | Antlia | Apus | Aquarius | Aquila | Ara | Aries | Auriga | Bootes | Caelum | Camelopardalis | Cancer | Canes Venatici | Canis Major | Canis Minor | Capricornus | Carina | Cassiopeia | Centaurus | Cepheus | Cetus | Chamaeleon | Circinus | Columba | Coma Berenices | Corona Austrina | Corona Borealis | Corvus | Crater | Crux | Cygnus | Delphinus | Dorado | Draco | Equuleus | Eridanus | Fornax | Gemini | Grus | Hercules | Horologium | Hydra | Hydrus | Indus | Lacerta | Leo | Leo Minor | Lepus | Libra | Lupus | Lynx | Lyra | Mensa | Microscopium | Monoceros | Musca | Norma | Octans | Ophiuchus | Orion | Pavo | Pegasus | Perseus | Phoenix | Pictor | Pisces | Piscis Austrinus | Puppis | Pyxis | Reticulum | Sagitta | Sagittarius | Scorpius | Sculptor | Scutum | Serpens | Sextans | Taurus | Telescopium | Triangulum | Triangulum Australe | Tucana | Ursa Major | Ursa Minor | Vela | Virgo | Volans | Vulpecula |
Related categories
• NOTABLE STARS• NEBULAE AND STAR CLUSTERS
• GALAXIES
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