The Zodiac - Scorpio

The Stars

Antares

The great, red heart of Scorpio, Antares, 'the rival of Mars', was one of the Persian Royal Stars in 3000 BC, and is the Chinese 'Heart of the Green Dragon'. Antares, like the other red 'supergiant', Betelgeux (or Betelgeuse) in Orion, which rises as it sets, portends war and martial honours. It is surrounded by a huge red nebula, invisible to the naked eye, and is 700 times larger, and 9000 times brighter than our sun. North of the Scorpion's tail, where the birthplace of Mars was thought to be located, lies the famous Butterfly star cluster, appearing to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch half the diameter of the full moon.

To Locate

The Scorpion of the zodiac, with its curving tail, lies on the zodiac band between Libra, which once made up its claws, and the wild centaur, Sagittarius, who aims his arrow at its heart. Antares, the great red star that marks the heart of Scorpio, is 9000 times brighter than our sun.

Scorpio also lies between Hydra and Serpentarius (now Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer), but most of its stars are invisible from the northern hemisphere. Antares can be seen on summer evenings, a great, red star low on the southern horizon from the northern hemisphere. It is high in the northern sky during the winter from the southern hemisphere.