Generalities: it is a constellation of the zodiac, situated in the southern sky. The Sun transits it for a short time, intercepting its northern extremity. It shows a beautiful star of the first magnitude. The Sun remains in the  Scorpion for a week: from 22 to 29 November . This constellation transits at midnight in June.
 
Origins and mythology: the Scorpion  represented  is the one sent by Juno to kill Orion. For this reason  it is found to the opposite side of the sky, so that it cannot be ever observed at the same time as  its enemy.

Stars: it is dominated by Antares, a red star of magnitude 0.96 (15° star of the sky for brightness), which is 520 light-years far. Its name means "anti - Ares" since it competes with Mars because of  its red color; even Mars  is characterized by a reddish light. The stars  following Antares for brightness are two under  the second magnitude (Shaula and Sargas), both contained  in the sting of the Scorpion. In this constellation there are then other eight stars under  magnitude three and as many under  magnitude 4. It is therefore a very rich constellation.

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 

Star	Proper name	Magnitude	Spectrum	Colour	Distance (light-years)	Notes
Alpha	Antares	0.96 (variable)	M1	red	326	Variable between 0.86 and 1.02
Lambda	Shaula	1.63	B2	blue	275
Theta	Sargas	1.87	F0	white-yellow	910
Epsilon	Wei	2.29	K2	orange	65
Delta	Dschubba	2.32	B2	blue	550
Kappa	Girtab	2.41	B2	blue	120
Beta	Graffias	2.64	B0.5+B2	blue	815	Visual double star
Ypsilon	Lesath	2.69	B3	blue	1560
Tau		2.82	B0	blue	780
Sigma	Alniyat	2.89 (variabile)	B1	blue	590
Pi		2.89	B1	blue	620
Iota 1		3.03	F2	white-yellow	5500
Mu 1		3.04	B1.5	blue	520
G		3.21	K2	orange	150
Eta		3.33	F2	white-yellow	68

Other objects: the Scorpion  shows some notable heaps: they are the globular ones M4 and M80 and the open ones M6 and M7.

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