Antares
A red supergiant at the heart of the Scorpion, whose name means the rival of Mars, for its colour.
Tonight from
Rise, highest point and set are worked out on your device for the place above.
What it is
- Brightness
- Magnitude 1.06, the 17th brightest star in the night sky
- Distance
- 554 light years
- Kind of star
- Red supergiant, spectral type M1 Ib
- Light it gives out
- About 9,500 times the Sun’s, in visible light
- Constellation
- Scorpius, where it is α Scorpii
- Catalogue number
- HIP 80763
Figures from HYG database 4.1 (Hipparcos, Yale Bright Star and Gliese catalogues), CC BY-SA 4.0. All sources
Near it in the sky
- M 4A globular cluster in Scorpius, right beside it, a finger’s width away.
- Butterfly ClusterAn open cluster in Scorpius, about a hand span away.
- ShaulaA blue-white subgiant in Scorpius, about a hand span away.
- Ptolemy’s ClusterAn open cluster in Scorpius, about a hand span away.
- Lagoon NebulaA nebula in Sagittarius, about a hand span away.