It can be seen in summer from the northern hemisphere, but is low in the sky and is best seen from the southern hemisphere or southern United States. It is visible at latitudes between 40 degrees and degrees. It lies between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. It is a medium-sized constellation that occupies square degrees of the sky.
It ranks 33rd in size among the 88 constellations of the night sky. Scorpius is easy to find due to its distinct "J" shape, also described as a fishhook. It is one of the thirteen constellations of the zodiac. This means it lies along the path the Sun travels in the sky during the year. Scorpius is one of the 48 constellations identified by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. It is an ancient constellation that pre-dated the Greeks. It was this scorpion's sting that caused Orion's death.
In another version, it was the Earth that sent the scorpion to kill Orion after he bragged about being able to kill any wild beast. Mu Scorpii is a designation shared by two star systems separated by 0. Mu-1 Scorpii formally known as Xamidimura is a binary star system with a combined apparent magnitude of 3.
It is classified as an eclipsing binary star of the Beta Lyrae type, with the two components periodically eclipsing each other. The primary component is a main sequence star belonging to the spectral class B1. The companion is also a class B star, type B6. The star has a radius seven times than of the Sun. The star is located on the northern border of the constellation.
It has a visual magnitude of 5. In September , astrobiologist Margaret Turnbull identified the star as one of the most promising nearby candidates for hosting life, but no planets have been discovered yet orbiting the star. Gliese is a triple star system in Scorpius. The components have visual magnitudes of 5. The two brighter components, Gliese A and Gliese B, orbit each other with a period of When observed without a visual aid, the system appears like a single star with an apparent magnitude of 5.
Gliese A is a main sequence star belonging to the spectral class K3 V, smaller and less massive than the Sun. Gliese C is a red dwarf belonging to the spectral class M1. It has two confirmed extrasolar planets in its orbit, and a third planet is a strong possibility.
HD is a yellow dwarf with the stellar classification G5V. It has an apparent magnitude of 7. A planet believed to be a gas giant was discovered orbiting the star in , and another extrasolar planet was discovered in Pismis is the largest star in the open cluster Pismis 24, located within the nebula NGC It has an apparent magnitude of It is one of the most luminous stars known.
Scorpius X-1 is an X-ray source in Scorpius. It is a low-mass X-ray binary system composed of a neutron star that draws material off a donor star. Scorpius X-1 was the first X-ray source discovered outside the solar system and it is the strongest source of X-rays in the sky, second only to the Sun.
The X-ray flux is associated with the star V Scorpii, a blue variable which is the optical counterpart to Scorpius X Scorpius X-1 was discovered by a team led by the astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi in Giacconi laid the foundations of X-ray astronomy and won a Nobel Prize for his work in PSR B is a binary star located approximately 12, light years away in the direction of Messier 4, a globular cluster in Scorpius.
The system lies just outside the cluster. An extrasolar planet was discovered orbiting the two stars in This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the location of the pulsar B, which is orbited by both a white dwarf and a Jupiter-sized planet.
Richer University of British Columbia. Wray is also one of the most luminous stars known. It is believed to be a luminous blue variable LBV , and has an absolute magnitude of Messier 4 is a globular cluster in Scorpius. It has an apparent magnitude of 5. It was the first globular cluster discovered in which individual stars could be resolved. The brightest stars in M4 have an apparent magnitude of The estimated age of the cluster is around This great ball of ancient stars is one of the closest of such stellar systems to the Earth and appears in the constellation of Scorpius The Scorpion close to the bright red star Antares.
M4 is about 75 light years across. M4 is easy to find in the sky, as it lies 1. Along with NGC in the constellation Ara , which is also 7, light years away, Messier 4 is the closest globular cluster to our solar system.
Messier 6 is an open cluster also known as the Butterly Cluster because its stars form a shape similar to that of a butterfly. The cluster was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Batista Hodierna in and Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in The bright stars in M4 are mostly hot, blue, class B stars, but the brightest one is a class K orange giant, BM Scorpii.
The Butterfly Cluster has an apparent magnitude of 4. Ptolemy believed the cluster to be a nebula. The Ptolemy Cluster contains about 80 stars, the brightest of which has a visual magnitude of 5.
M7 is approximately light years distant from the solar system. It is roughly 25 light years in diameter. The age of the cluster is estimated to be around million years. Messier 80 is a globular cluster discovered by Charles Messier in M80 is about 95 light years in diameter and contains hundreds of thousands of stars. It is one of the most densely populated clusters in our galaxy. It lies halfway between the stars Antares and Acrab. It is visible in moderate-sized amateur telescopes.
It is home to a significant number of blue stragglers, blue main sequence stars that appear to be much younger because they are bluer and more luminous than stars at the main sequence turn-off point for the cluster. The progenitor star was T Scorpii. It is a vast star-forming region and one of the most active stellar nurseries containing some of the most massive stars known in the Milky Way.
It is believed to contain tens of thousands of stars. NGC lies about light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. The whole gas cloud is about 50 light-years across. NGC is one of the most active nurseries of massive stars in our galaxy and has been extensively studied by astronomers. The nebula conceals freshly minted brilliant blue stars — each nearly ten times the mass of our Sun and born in the last few million years.
The region is also home to many baby stars that are buried deep in the dust, making them difficult to study. Image: ESO. NGC is a nebula about 1. It was created when a medium-sized star ran out of fuel and shed its outer envelope into space. NGC is an open star cluster. It is the brightest open cluster in Scorpius constellation. The cluster lies about 2 degrees east of Mu Scorpii. It is part of a binary system, having a faint companion. Shaula , also known as Lambda Scorpii, is the second-brightest star in the constellation and the 25th brightest star in the sky, with an apparent magnitude of about 1.
Astronomers have confirmed it too is made up of two stars, and there could be a third one given that the star system is producing more X-rays than expected. The constellation encompasses U Scorpii, one of only 10 known recurring novas, which is the rapid increase in the brightness of a star. While it normally has a magnitude of 18, it reaches a magnitude of about 8 during outbursts, which have been observed in , , , , , and Scorpius and Orion are often intertwined in Greek mythology.
According to one myth, Orion boasted that he would kill every animal on the earth. The goddess-hunter Artemis and her mother, Leto, dispatched a scorpion to kill Orion. Zeus put the scorpion in the heavens after it won the battle. In another myth, the god Apollo, Artemis's twin brother, grew angry and sent a scorpion to attack Orion because he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis. Zeus put Orion and Scorpius in the sky, but they are visible at different times of the year.
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