Joaquin Palacios
Scorpius Constellation Report
Scorpius is Latin for scorpion. It is one of the thirteen constellations of the Zodiac family and is next to
Sagittarius, Libra, and Ophiuchus. Scorpius used to cover a larger portion of the night sky but its claws
were given to Libra when the Romans revised the constellations during the first century BC. It is also one
of the oldest constellations known to man, dating back five thousand years to Ancient Sumerian times.
Scorpius is one of the largest and brightest constellations in the night sky and is very easy to find with
the naked eye. The constellation is only viewable during the summer months for the northern
hemisphere, but the end of the tail will most likely be under the horizon. In the southern hemisphere it
is visible during all other months and lies directly overhead near the Milky Way. Scorpius is made up of
fifteen main stars and forty-seven Bayer/Flamsteed stars. It occupies an area of four hundred and
ninety-seven square degrees. Its main stars are Antares, Graffias, Dschubba, Sargas, Gamma Scorpii,
Shaula, Lesath, Jabbah, and Al Niyat. The constellation is in the center of the Milky Way so it contains
many deep-space objects that will be mentioned in more detail further on.
The brightest star in the constellation, and seventeenth brightest in general, is Alpha Scorpii, also known
as Antares, the heart of the scorpion. It is Greek for ‘rival of mars’ because of its color and is bigger than
Mars’ whole orbit! Antares is a supergiant with an average magnitude of 1.06, and has a companion star
known as Antares B that is a much smaller star with a bluish-white color. The neighboring star is the
reason its magnitude will change, making it a variable star, from its low point of 0.88 to its high of 1.16
(Howell, 2013). Antares is eighteen times the mass of our own sun, seven hundred times its diameter,
only about half as hot and around sixty thousand times as luminous as our sun.
Joaquin Palacios
In Greek Mythology there are multiple stories regarding Scorpius and most of them are tied in closely
with Orion. One story goes a little like this. Orion and Artemis we’re the best of friends, they would like
to go out hunting together. Orion was a very cocky hunter and said he could kill all the animals on Earth.
Gaia, the goddess of Earth, got very mad and knew Orion needed to be stopped, so she sent a giant
scorpion after him. Orion was the best hunter around but he was no match for the colossal scorpion.
The fight had begun but after a crucial hit from the scorpion’s stinger Orion was defeated. Zeus had
been watching the battle from Mount Olympus and had seen how brave Orion was and wanted to honor
him in some way. Zeus then placed him in the stars in the Northern Hemisphere. Gaia didn’t see a need
for the scorpion on Earth anymore, so she put the Scorpius constellation in the Southern Hemisphere.
You’ll never see the two constellations at the same time because as one rises in the east, the other sets
in the west.
The Babylonians called the constellation “MUL GIR TAB” which means scorpion, their signs translate to
“creature with a burning sting” (Pubs, 2008). The people of Indonesia called the constellation
Banyakangrem or Kalapa Doyong which translate to ‘the brooded swan’ and ‘leaning coconut tree’ due
to the similarities in their shapes (Daldjoeni, 1984). In Chinese mythology the constellation was seen as
part of the Azure Dragon of the East. In the Pacific Island of Hawaii the constellation is seen as the God
Maui’s fishhook. The indigenous Maori people of New Zealand didn’t see the constellation as anything
special but they worshipped the star Antares, other cultures did this too. The Maori renamed the star
Rehua, and they saw it as the chief of all other stars. The Ancient Egyptian people saw the star as Serket,
the scorpion goddess.
Joaquin Palacios
Since Scorpius is in the center of the Milky Way there are many deep space objects in and around the
constellation. The closest of these objects is the globular cluster known as Messier 4, it’s about seven
thousand two hundred light years away from our solar system and is estimated to be about thirteen
billion years old. One of the best pictures from space, in my opinion, comes from NGC 6302 also known
as the Butterfly Nebula, not to be confused with the Butterfly cluster. The nebula has a central star that
was once about five times the size of our sun. Its temperature has been recorded up to four hundred
thousand fahrenheit making one of the hottest stars in our galaxy. Sadly the star cannot be seen as it is
surrounded by a thick ring cloud of gas and dust, this ring gives the planetary nebula its hourglass figure,
which is now the size of two light years. It’s believed that the star started burning off its outer layers
over two thousand years ago. The gas is moving through space at an astonishing rate of six hundred
thousand miles an hour.
Some pillars of creation can also be found in Scorpius, they lie within NGC 6357 also known as the War
and Peace Nebula. Stars that are formed in this stellar nursery are made up of graphite, silicates and ice.
This nebula is home to the open cluster Pismis 24 which contains some of the brightest stars in our
galaxy. This nebula is about eight thousand light years away from us. Messier 80, otherwise known as
NGC 6093 or M8 is one of the densest globular clusters out there. It contains hundreds of thousands of
stars and was discovered in 1781 by Charles Messier (Frommert, 2007).
Joaquin Palacios
Joaquin Palacios
Bibliography
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4. Howell, Elizabeth. "Antares: Red Star at the End of Its Life | Space.com." Space.com. N.p., 9 July 2013.
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10. McClure, Bruce. "Scorpius? Here's Your Constellation | EarthSky.org." EarthSky. N.p., 1 July 2014.
(Picture)
11. Staff, SPACE.com. "U0027War and Peaceu0027 Nebulau0027s Stars Shine in New Space Photo |
Space.com." Space.com. N.p., 20 June 2012.
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