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| Abbreviation: Sco |
| English Name: The Scorpion |
| Genitive: Antares |
| Hemisphere: Southern Hemisphere (Parts visible from the UK.) |
| Location: Between the constellations of Sagittarius and Lupus. |
| Visible between latitudes: +40 and -90 degrees |
| Best season: Summer |
| Seen in three seasons: Spring, Summer and Autumn |
| Best seen in: June (map) and July (map) |
| Seen between: June and August |
| Right Ascension (RA): 17 hour |
| Declination (DEC): -40 degrees |
| Area (square degrees): 497 (33rd) |
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Scorpius (The Scorpion)
- This large constellation located in the Southern Hemisphere.
o - It lies in rich region of the Milky-Way, and like Sagittarius (The Archer), contains numerous objects of interest, in the same direction to the centre of our Galaxy.
o - Our Sun passes through it briefly from 23 November to 29 November every year.
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Messier Objects in Scorpius
| M4 – Globular Cluster; large and fairly loose – visible even with the naked-eye and a fuzzy in binoculars. |
| M6 – Open Cluster; known as The Butterfly Cluster, can be resolved into individual stars in binoculars. |
| M7 – Open Cluster; known as Ptolemy’s Cluster, best seen with low-magnification binoculars. |
| M80 – Globular Cluster; small/compact, readily seen in binoculars but just resolved with 6-inch telescopes. |
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More objects in Scorpius
| Select Catalog | No of Objects |
| Barnard (B) | 34x objects |
| Caldwell (C) | 3x objects |
| Collinder (Cr) | 33x objects |
| New General Catalogue (NGC) | 51x objects |
| Index Catalogue (IC) | 15x objects |
| Sharpless (Sh2) | 16x objects |
Features of Interest
- NGC 6153 – Planetary Nebula; (pale blue / magnitude: +10.9) easily observed with 3-inch telescopes.
o - NGC 6231 – Open Cluster; extremely large and bright – more spectacular than the Double Cluster in Perseus (The Perseus), and contains many very hot stars with a whole range types of stars; Blue-white, yellow and orange stars are visible.
o - NGC 6302 – Planetary Nebula; known as The Bug Nebula, noticeably elongated including a bright centre. (Magnitude: +9.6)
o - NGC 6388 – Globular Cluster; readily visible in 3-inch telescopes but can’t be resolved easily because of small object.
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Named Stars
- Antares (Alpha Sco)
- Graffias (Beta 1 Sco)
- Dschubba (Delta Sco)
- Sargas (Theta Sco)
- Shaula (Lambda Sco)
- Jabbah (Nu Sco)
- Grafias (Xi Sco)
- Alniyat (Sigma Sco)
- Alniyat (Tau Sco)
- Lesath (Upsilon Sco)
- more list of stars in Scorpius.
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Planetarium / Constellation Map
| Live constellation visible from the UK :- Planetarium (Scorpius) | Best Seen in: June (map) and July (map) | Seen between: June and August |
IAU Sky Chart: Scorpius
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Constellations – Visible from the UK
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Parts visible from the UK
| Antlia | Columba | Eridanus | Fornax | Microscopium | ||
| Piscis Austrinus | Puppis | Pyxis | Sagittarius | Scorpius | ||
| Sculptor |
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Constellations: Southern Celestial Hemisphere
…..– never seen from the UK
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Back to …Constellation Names
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