Scorpio in the Night Summer Sky

If you're like me, both a stargazer and a Scorpio, then you're going to enjoy the view in the southern skies at night this summer. Just as the Scorpio personality tends to dominate, the constellation of Scorpius,the most striking of the summer constellations will be dominating the night sky over the next few months. Scorpius is a constellation in the southern hemisphere, close to the center of the Milky Way and unlike a lot of other constellations it actually resembles it namesake, the Scorpio.


Scorpius contains about 16 stars and the standout star, "Heart of Scorpion", actually resembles one as well. Antares, the bright red star is the 15th brightest star in our sky, and probably the second largest one ~ next only to Betelgeuse in Orion.


Now as we know from Greek Mythology Orion was killed by the sting of a scorpion. There are various tellings of Orion vs. Scorpio, but I like this paticular skylore.

Orion, the hunter, boasted that his skill as a hunter was so great that he could kill all the animals of the Earth. Gaia, Goddess of Earth, was angered over Orion's claim. Gaia decided that Orion must be killed as not to fulfill his intention, she sent a giant scorpion to destroy Orion. As mighty as Orion was, after only a brief battle, the scorpion defeated the great hunter with a deadly sting. To honor the battle, Orion and the Scorpion were given places in the sky, but they were placed at opposite ends of the sky so that they would never again engage in battle. Orion is a bright constellation of winter, while Scorpius crawls through the night sky in summer. A good idea to keeps these two in opposite hemispheres. 


Mythology and Skylore also tells us later that the constellation of Sagittarius avenged Orion by slaying the Scorpion with one arrow shot to the "heart of the scorpion", the Antares star.

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"...He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.
Genesis 1:16-18(NIV)