EarthSky Tonight—September 13, Waxing moon near Scorpion’s Heart
The Scorpion is one of the few constellations that looks like the creature for which it was named.
EarthSky Tonight—August 18, Moon shines above Scorpion’s stinger
When the moon drops out of the evening sky in late August and the first week in September, you can use the stinger stars to star-hop to two beautiful deep-sky…
EarthSky Tonight—August 17, Antares – Fire Star – near moon
In ancient Chinese thought, the summer season was associated with the direction south, with the element fire, and with the color red. No wonder, then, that this reddish star in…
Earthsky Tonight—August 2, Find a globular cluster by the Scorpion’s heart
Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. Antares is always up on summer evenings. It is a bright red star known for twinkling rapidly.
Earthsky Tonight—July 26, The ‘forgotten’ zodiacal constellation
Even today, the Staff of Asclepius – the symbol of the World Heath Organization – pays tribute to the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.
Earthsky Tonight—July 20, Moon and Antares cross the sky together
The moon is a chunk of rock, shining with sunlight that reflects from its surface. It can appear to cover Antares only because the moon is so close to us…
Earthsky Tonight—June 29: Find the Libra stars between Antares and Spica
Before moonlight floods the nighttime at late night tonight, see if you can spot the constellation Libra’s two visible yet modestly bright stars: Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali.
EarthSky Tonight-June 26: See Earth’s orbital plane with the mind’s eye
The ecliptic on this sky chart represents the Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the stellar sphere. Tonight’s moon and three key stars – Antares, Zubenelgenubi and Spica – enable you…
EarthSky Tonight-June 23: Waxing gibbous moon passes near Scorpion’s Heart
So why is Antares red? Because the outer layer of its atmosphere – its “surface” for lack of a better term for a giant ball of gas – is cooler…
EarthSky Tonight, June 22: Moon near Crown of the Scorpion on June 22
Scorpius – which now rises in the south-southeastern sky at early evening, is the constellation of the Scorpion. Individually, the Crown stars are Graffias, Dschubba, and Pi Scorpii.