Scorpius (original) (raw)

Scorpius, the zodiac's great Scorpion, wends its way from upper right to lower left in a morning twilight sky. Antares, lying toward the upper right, is the brightest star in the picture. It is flanked by two stars that together are Al Niyat, the one to the upper right Sigma Scorpii, the one to the lower left Tau Scorpii. The three brightest stars in the upper right hand corner (from top to bottom, Graffias, Dschubba, and Pi Scorpii) make the Scorpion's head; Omega 1 and 2 are just below Beta. Continue down and to the right to find Rho and then Theta Lupi. Jabbah appears just down and to the left of Graffias. The scorpion's stinger is represented by the close pair of stars toward the lower left, the brighter one Shaula, the fainter Lesath. Kappa is down and a bit to the left of Shaula, while the pair down and to the left of Kappa is made of Iota-1(the brighter) and Iota-2. Down at the bottom of the curved tailis Girtab. At the western bend in the tail in south central Scorpius lies Zeta Scorpii, which consists of nearby (Zeta-2) and one of the most luminous stars of the Galaxy, Zeta-1. The "optical" double Mu Scolies directly above it. Above Mu, find Epsilon. Rho Ophiuchi, seen in proper context inOphiuchus, is above and slightly to the left of Antares. G Sco can be found up and to the left of Kappa. Chi, Psi, and Xi Sco, along the the solar-type star 18 Sco, are in the northern panhandle of Scorpius to the south of Ophiuchus and Serpens, and are not visible here. The Milky Way, with its dark clouds seen to the left (the most prominent of them called the "Pipe Nebula"), runs through the middle of the picture. The bright open cluster M7 is to the right of the Stinger, while M6 is just above it. Just up and to the right of M6 find HR 6535, the luminary of the open cluster NGC 6383. The globular cluster M4 is just up and to the right of Antares.