Star map from Scorpius
Finding stars around Scorpio (or go back to Name that Star)
Scorpio itself can be worth tracing out to people, as it does have a faintly scorpion shape (notably the curled ’tail’) and is thereafter fairly easy for anyone to find again. It is a useful signpost to some of the brighter stars of the late evening winter southern skies, notably Arcturus and Vega the fourth and fifth brightest stars in the sky. The less bright (thirteenth brightest) star Altair is easily seen third point. The constellation itself also contains Antares, a visibly red star and in fact one of the biggest known stars, a red supergiant.
The tail of the scorpion also sits adjacent to the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, which is worth a look through a pair of cheap binoculars by tracking from two star clusters M6 and M7.
If it is summer and hard to find these stars, you can still find other objects of interest. Just click over to stars around Orion’s Belt.
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