Star profile
Antares
Alpha Scorpii · Scorpius
Variable starWhat is Antares
Antares pulses at the heart of Scorpius, a red supergiant some seven hundred times wider than the Sun. The ancient Greeks named it «the rival of Ares», for its coppery hue rivalled Mars in the night sky to the point of confusion. A nebula of dust surrounds it and reflects its own light back as a faint, almost dreamlike halo. Its brightness shifts slowly, at its own cadence: the light arriving tonight set out around the 15th century, when caravels still searched for a new world.
Where it is and when to see it
Antares lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the brightest stars in the sky: visible even from a city. Its best month of the year is May, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 12° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 23° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 83° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 64° N.
It is the brightest of the 104 stars of Scorpius in our catalogue, which makes it the best starting point for finding your way around the constellation.
The light you see today left it about 550 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Antares
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.06
- Distance
- 553.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 247.352° · Dec -26.432°
- Catalogue
- HIP 80763 · HD 148478
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Scorpius
Scorpius has 104 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- ShaulaLambda Scorpii1.62
- SargasTheta Scorpii1.86
- DschubbaDelta Scorpii2.29
- LarawagEpsilon Scorpii2.29
- Kappa Scorpii2.39
- AcrabBeta 1 Scorpii2.56
- LesathUpsilon Scorpii2.70
- PaikauhaleTau Scorpii2.82