A

David

Darling

Scorpius

Scorpius

Scorpius. © 2003 Torsten Bronger.


Scorpius (abbreviation: Sco), the Scorpion, isa prominent constellation of the southern hemisphere and the eighth of the zodiac. Scorpius is one of the few constellations to actually look like what it represents. It lies south of Ophiuchus and west of the northern part of Centaurus. It also lies on the ecliptic between Libra and Sagittarius. The Milky Way passes through this region, and it contains several open clusters and globular clusters. Its brightest star is the first magnitude Antares (Alpha Scorpii). See below for details of the constellation's other brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.

 

Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0
star vis mag abs mag spec type dist (ly) RA (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'; RA 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, 1.5° W of Antares. Some of its brightest members appear to form a bar through the center. Magnitude 5.9; diameter 26.3'; RA 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'; RA 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