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| Scorpius, the original name for which is Scorpio is one of
the 12 zodiac constellations. Of these constellations the Sun spends the
least time in Scorpius, only a week each year. The Sun is in Scorpius from
November 23rd to November 29th. Scorpio is a very old constellation maybe
even over 5,000 years old, originating with the Sumerians of the Middle
East who called this famous constellation Gir-tab which now is the name
of a star in Scorpius (it is also called Theta Scorpii). The heart of the
Scorpian is the crimsom star of Antares. Antares means “the rival of
Mars” for it is the 15th brightest star of the night and therefore
is the rival of Mars. Its blue-white companion star is almost always lost
in the brightness of Antares and orbits Antares about every 900 years. Antares
is 600 or so light-years away. It is 500 times the size of our Sun and shines
about 10,000 times more brightly. Above Antares rises the arc of the tail,
finished off with the star called Shaula which, hence the part it plays
in the constellation means “the sting” in Arabic. The creature’s
claws are now a seperate constellation, called Libra, becuase of Scorpius’s
shrinking over the years. That is why the stars Alpha and Beta Librae are
also Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, which means “southern claw”
and “northern claw” (they are in the constellation Libra). To
see the full constellation of Scorpius you need to be roughly at the line
between Boston, Buffalo, and Milwaukee, which is geographically south of
latitude 44 degrees north. A good time to see Scorpius at this location
is June and July evenings. Of the many myths and legends of Scorpius the
Ancient Greek one is my favorite. According to the story Orion (of which
there is a constellation as well) proudly proclaimed that he, of all humans
could kill any animal on Earth. This was the kind of boast that even the
littlest child knew would bring retribution from the gods. To prove to Orion
that he was not as defeatable as he claimed Gaea, the Earth goddess sent
a scorpian to kill the proud Orion. Zeus, ruler and leader of all gods,
placed Orion and the scorpian on opposite sides of the sky so that while
the scorpion rises Orion is setting. This reminded people not to become
over-confident in their strong qualities. Who knows, but maybe the story
of Orion and Scorpius was inspired by the positioning of the stars and constellations
in the sky. Here are some stars in the constellation Scorpius: |
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Common Name- Antares Graffias Dschubba -------------- Girtab -------------- |
Star Name- Alpha Scorpii Beta Scorpii Delta Scorpii Epsilon Scorpii Theta Scorpii Kappa Scorpii |
Distance from Earth- 604 light-years 530 light-years 402 light-years 65 light-years 272 light-years 464 light-years |
 CLASS VI DIRECTORY |
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