The sting in the stars

Mark Hardaker is your guide to the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion, a fascinating spectacle of the summer months

- Mark Hardaker

Scorpius is one of the most distinctive and easily recognised constellations in the night sky, and has captivated the imaginations of stargazers for millennia. It's renowned not only for its red, bright heart, the star Antares, but also for its ancient mythological roots, stunning deep-sky objects and a rather contentious historical relationship with its neighbour Libra.

It's a constellation steeped in myth, most notably Greek mythology, representing the scorpion sent by the Earth goddess Gaia (or sometimes Artemis or Hera, depending on which version you follow) to kill the great hunter Orion. According to the story, Orion boasted that he would slay every animal on Earth, angering the gods. To punish his conceit, a giant scorpion was sent to confront him and sting the hunter to death. The gods placed both Orion and Scorpius in the sky, but on opposite sides - ensuring that they would never appear together. When Scorpius rises in the east in summer, Orion sets in the west, and vice versa, symbolising their ongoing cosmic chase.

Observing Scorpius