The Constellation Scorpio
Scorpius The Killer Of Orion

The constellation Scorpio, represents the giant scorpion Scorpius
that killed the great hunter
Orion.
The giant scorpion was sent by Hera to kill Orion
who had boasted that he was the greatest hunter and
would kill all the wild animals on earth.
Scorpius and Orion wrestled for days on end to no avail.
Finally the scorpion stung the hunter in his heel causing
Orion's death.
The Gods placed Orion in the sky along with the scorpion,
but placed them at opposite sides of the sky so that
the scorpion could never hurt Orion again.
Scorpius itself is chased by the archer
Sagittarius
Where To Find Scorpius
In the northern hemisphere, Scorpius seems to scuttle
across the southern sky. But in the south, the constellation
rises high in the sky dominating during the summer months.
Right Ascension: 17 hours
Declination: -40 degrees
Visible between latitudes 40 and -90 degrees
Best seen in July (at 9:00 PM)
Named Stars:
ANTARES (Alpha Sco)
Graffias (Beta 1 Sco)
Dschubba (Delta Sco)
Sargas (Theta Sco)
SHAULA (Lambda Sco)
Jabbah (Nu Sco)
Grafias (Xi Sco)
Alniyat (Sigma Sco)
Alniyat (Tau Sco)
Lesath (Upsilon Sco)
Anteres is the brightest star and is seen as the scorpion's heart.
Its position on the Milky Way puts plenty of deep sky objects
in the constellation scorpio. A good pair of binoculars will
reveal some nice views of these objects.
Some sights of interest are:
open clusters M6 and M7
globular clusters M4 and M80
and open star cluster NGC6231.
Scorpius And The Zodiac
Although the scorpio constellation is one of the
oldest zodiac signs, the sun actually spends about
a week to ten days in the constellation.
Most of the time the sun is moving through the
neighboring Ophiuchus.
The claws of the scorpion were removed and became part
of the
Libra constellation
constellation scorpio back to zodiac list.
constellations and backyard stargazing