Overview
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For this week's discussion assignment I used SkyView Lite and I chose the constellation of Scorpius. It is one of the 13 constellations included in the Zodiac and it is considered one of the oldest constellations recognized by human civilizations. Scorpius is located in the southern hemisphere near the center of the Milky Way. The modern name Scorpius is the Latin word for scorpion. Due to its distinct curved star pattern, many ancient civilizations viewed it as a real scorpion. Hence, is how its name came to be. Scorpius was one of the original 48 constellations identified by Ptolemy although it was identified by the Sumerians civilization over thousand of years prior to him. Essentially, no one named Scorpius because its recognition as a scorpion dates back to ancient civilizations in the late fourth millennium BCE. The Scorpius constellation has 18 main stars that form its primary shape, with about 171 total stars visible in the naked-eye. The star that stands out in my view is Antares within the Scorpius constellations because it is the brightest star in Scorpius and it is often referred as the heart of scorpion. As well as, it is a red supergiant star and one of the brightest stars in the entire sky with a magnitude of 0.96. I picked this constellation because of its origin in Greek mythology which I found very interesting. According to Greek mythology, it is stated that Orion the Hunter grew very egotistical about his hunting skills. Orion claimed that there was no animal on Earth he could not kill. Due to his bragging the Earth goddess Gaia sent Scorpius the scorpion to sting and kill Orion.
References
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Editors. (n.d.). Scorpius
( The Scorpion).
https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/scorpius.html
Earth Sky Editor. ( 2026, July 10). Scorpius the Scorpion and its legendary stinger.
https://earthsky.org/constellations/scorpius-heres-your-constellation/
National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory. (n.d.). Constellation: Scorpius.
https://noirlab.edu/public/education/constellations/scorpius/
IAU Office of Astronomy of Education Editors. (n.d.). Glossary Term:
Scorpius.
https://astro4edu.org/resources/glossary/term/299/
Sohn, R. Zimmermann, K. ( 2023, July 30). Scorpius constellation: Facts about the Scorpion.