Generalities: it is a zodiacal constellation included in the southern sky, which doesn't show any stars of great brightness. The Libra transits at midnight at the end of May.

Origins and mythology: in ancient times its stars were included in the Scorpion, whose cheles they represented. The Libra was invented subsequently, but always in ancient times. There is not a unique interpretation of the meaning of its name. Some traditions see in it the scales of Astrea, goddess of  justice, others instead the scales of Julius Caesar, while he was judging. Finally, according to the Greek, it represented Mochis, the inventor of  weights and  measures.

Stars: in the Libra there are two stars under  magnitude 3. The brightest is said Zuben-el-schemali (the northern chela), of magnitude 2.61, white-blue color, 140 light-years far. The latter is Zuben-el-genubi (the southern chela), of white color, magnitude 2.95 and  65 light-years far. Moreover in the Libra there are  other 4 stars under  magnitude 4.

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 

Star	Proper name	Magnitude	Spectrun	Colour	Distance (light-years)	Notes
Beta	Zuben El Schemali	2.68	B8	white	120
Alpha 2	Zuben El Genubi	2.95	A3	white	72	Large couple with star Alpha 1
Sigma	Zuben Algubi	3.29	M4	red	165

Other objects: it shows a globular cluster, which can be observed by amateur telescopes.
 

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