Scorpius

Scorpius (abbreviation: Sco), the Scorpion, isa prominent constellation of the southern hemisphere and the eighth of the zodiac. Scorpius is one of the few constellations to actually look like what it represents. It lies south of Ophiuchus and west of the northern part of Centaurus. It also lies on the ecliptic between Libra and Sagittarius. The Milky Way passes through this region, and it contains several open clusters and globular clusters. Its brightest star is the first magnitude Antares (Alpha Scorpii). See below for details of the constellation's other brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.

Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0
star	vis mag	abs mag	spec type	dist (ly)	RA (h m s)	Dec (° ' ")
Alpha (Antares)	1.06v	-5.28	M1.5Iab+B4V	604	16 29 24	-26 25 55
Lambda (Shaula)	1.62	-5.05	B2IV+B	703	17 33 36	-37 06 14
Theta (Sargas)	1.86	-2.75	F1II	272	17 37 19	-42 59 52
Epsilon (Wei)	2.29	0.78	K2.5III	65	16 50 10	-34 17 36
Delta (Dschubba)	2.29	-3.16	B0.3IV	402	16 00 20	-22 37 18
Kappa (Girtab)	2.39	-3.38	B1.5III	464	17 42 29	-39 01 48
Beta (Graffias)	2.56	-3.50	B1V+B2V	530	16 05 26	-19 48 19
Upsilon (Lesath)	2.70	-3.31	B2IV	519	17 30 46	-37 17 45
Tau	2.82	-2.78	B0V	430	16 35 53	-28 12 58
Sigma (Alniyat)	2.90v	-3.87	B2III+O9.5V	735	16 21 11	-25 35 34
Pi	2.89	-2.86	B1V+B2V	459	15 58 51	-26 06 50
Iota-1	2.99	-5.71	F3Iae	1,790	17 47 35	-40 07 37
Mu-1	3.00	-4.01	B1.5V+B6.5V	822	16 51 52	-38 02 51
Eta	3.32	1.61	F3Vp	72	17 12 09	-43 14 21
Mu-2	3.56	-2.44	B2IV	517	16 52 20	-38 01 03
Zeta-2	3.62	0.30	K4III	151	16 54 35	-42 21 41
Rho	3.87	-1.63	B2IV	409	15 56 53	-29 12 50
Omega-1 (Jabhat al Akrab)	3.93	-1.64	B1V	424	16 06 48	-20 40 09

Other objects of interest
name	type of object	notes
Butterfly Cluster	open cluster	M6. See separate entry
M7 (NGC 6475)	open cluster	One of the finest open clusters in the northern hemisphere, best seen with binoculars. It encompasses many bright stars loosely concentrated at the center. Telescopes show, at the western edge, but still within the cluster's boundaries, the faint globular cluster NGC 6453. Magnitude 3.3; diameter 80'; RA 17h 53.9m, Dec -22° 59'
NGC 6231	open cluster	Over 100 stars in a compact 15' area; this cluster lies on another spiral arm of our galaxy, closer to the galactic center
M4 (NGC 6121)	globular cluster	A large, loosely concentrated cluster, 1.5° W of Antares. Some of its brightest members appear to form a bar through the center. Magnitude 5.9; diameter 26.3'; RA 16h 23.6m, Dec -26° 32'
M80 (NGC 6093)	globular cluster	A small, tightly concentrated object, difficult to resolve into stars, and then only around the edges; a fuzzy ball seen in binoculars. Magnitude 7.2; diameter 8.9'; RA 16h 17.0m, Dec -22° 59'
Scorpius X-1	X-ray binary	See separate entry