Scorpius, the scorpion

Scorpius really looks like its namesake: a curving line of stars ending in a raised sting, with red Antares at the heart. It lies on the Sun's yearly path, low in the south for northern observers and high overhead for southern ones.

Where is it from where I am?

How to spot it: A long curving line of stars with red Antares at its heart. Source (opens in a new tab)

A scorpion that lost its claws

The Greek scorpion was much larger than today's (opens in a new tab): its front half, the claws, was called Chelae. In the first century BC the Romans made the claws a separate constellation, Libra, the balance. Scorpius is the astronomers' name; Scorpio, the old name, is now used by astrologers.

Older than the Greeks

The Sumerians knew these stars as GIR-TAB, the scorpion (opens in a new tab), more than 5,000 years ago. The Greek story that this scorpion killed Orion is on its own page; the two constellations sit on opposite sides of the sky, so as one rises the other sets.

Antares and M4

The heart of the scorpion is Antares, a red supergiant. Beside it, Messier 4 (opens in a new tab) is the nearest globular cluster to Earth.

On the zodiac

The Sun passes through Scorpius each year, and through neighbouring Ophiuchus, which the IAU (opens in a new tab) counts among the constellations of the zodiac. Signs and constellations are not the same thing.

Where on Earth, and when

The whole key pattern rises from anywhere south of about 47°N.

North of about 67°N, none of it rises.

South of about 67°S, the whole key pattern never sets.

Its middle climbs at least 20° high, the finder's threshold for a suggestion, from anywhere south of about 37°N.

It is highest in the evening sky, at about 9 p.m. local time, in mid-July, from either hemisphere, wherever it rises. With daylight saving time, that is nearer 10 p.m. on the clock.

Worked out by this site from the Bright Star Catalogue, for a flat, clear horizon. Hills, buildings, haze and city light all cut into this; the air also lifts objects near the horizon by about half a degree. For your own place and night, use the sky finder.