30 June 2009

Scorpius now in view

The summer constellation Scorpius is now center-stage in the southern sky. It's always a treat to see the distinctive shape of Scorpius with red supergiant star Antares glowing in the sky. Through binoculars Scorpius is great because of an abundance of deep-sky objects in and near the constellation. And this week there is an extra treat as the moon passes through.

3 comments:

Sidewalk Universe said...

Just viewed this pretty pairing along with the M4 Globular Cluster right between them. Ah the subtle alignments of the celestial orbs.

Nice write up Paul and I can't wait for your next radio spot!

NiteSkyGirl said...

Through binoculars Scorpius is great because of an abundance of deep-sky objects in and near the constellation...

I love looking around this area with my new 12 inch telescope. antarez shines so bright it's amazing to look at the orange disk. And M44 woah eye-popping. Great write up !!

The Urban Astronomer said...

Hello fellow astronomy travelers: you two are way ahead of me in Scorpius viewing. It's been painfully foggy here in San Francisco the last few weeks and I am getting almost no telescope time.

Seeing M4 with a 12 inch scope would be quite fine. I need to get back to Sebastapol to borrow a big scope (I did that last year with a friend's 11 inch). M4 in a big scope would be sublime.

Thanks for the nice comments, folks.