Star profile
Iota 1 Scorpii
Highly luminous starWhat is Iota 1 Scorpii
Iota-1 Scorpii burns as a yellow-white F2 Ia supergiant —a rare luminous class shining with around 35,000 times the Sun's energy from 1,930 light-years away. Its swollen radius spans more than 120 solar radii, and its twelve solar masses place it in the quiet catalogue of stars destined for spectacular endings. It also forms an optical pair with Iota-2 Scorpii, two distant beacons in the Scorpion's stinger.
Where it is and when to see it
Iota 1 Scorpii lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is June, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 9° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 84° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 50° N.
It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 104 stars of Scorpius in our catalogue. To find it, start from Antares, the brightest: it lies about 21° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 1,900 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Iota 1 Scorpii
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.99
- Distance
- 1930.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 266.896° · Dec -40.127°
- Catalogue
- HIP 87073 · HD 161471
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Other stars in Scorpius
Scorpius has 104 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AntaresAlpha Scorpii1.06
- ShaulaLambda Scorpii1.62
- SargasTheta Scorpii1.86
- PaikauhaleTau Scorpii2.82
- FangPi Scorpii2.89
- AlniyatSigma Scorpii2.90
- XamidimuraMu 1 Scorpii3.00
- Fuyue3.19