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