The Stinging Scorpion (evening)

After dusk in mid-July, the distinctive constellation of Scorpius, the Scorpion reaches its peak elevation over the southern horizon. The constellation’s brightest star is orange-tinted Antares, the “Rival of Mars”. Several medium-bright, white stars arranged in a roughly vertical line to the west of Antares mark the creature’s claws on modern sky charts; however, the major stars of neighboring Libra used to perform that role. The rest of the scorpion extends to the south and curls to the left (celestial eastward) into the Milky Way, terminating with the bright double star Shaula, which marks its poisonous stinger. Observers at high mid-northern latitudes might not be able to see the southernmost stars of the constellation.