Profile / Characteristics
| English translation | Latin declination and pronunciations | Size/ °² | # stars (visible) |
| the Scorpion | Scorpius – SCOR-pee-us Scorpii – SCOR-pee-eye | 497 | 175 |
Main Star (brightest one):
| Designation | HIP number | name in IAU-CSN | brightness |
| α Sco | HIP 80763 | Antares | 0.91 mag (V) |
Our (modern) Explanation
The ancient Greek constellation of The Scorpion was imagined related to the death of the hunter Orion, but the Babylonian original showed a gigantic scorpion as a gate-keeper to the Netherworld. It marks the point when the Sun changed from the Northern to the Southern hemisphere (equinox) and was incorporated in the 4000 years old Epic of Gilgamesh.
Ancient Globes
Farnese Globe
Kugel Globe
Mainz Globe
(broken because of Atlas’ hand)
Ancient Lore & Meaning
Aratus
Reference:
English translation by Douglas Kidd (1997).
Aratus: Phaenomena, Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 34
Pseudo-Eratosthenes
he covers two constellations: the body and the claws and is put in the sky by Zeus in order to remind people on the strength of the animal
References:
French translation by:
Jordi Pàmias i Massana and Arnaud Zucker (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène – Catastérismes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris
English version in:
Robin Hard (2015): Eratosthenes and Hyginus Constellation Myths with Aratus’s Phaenomena, Oxford World’s Classics
Early Modern Interpretation
Contemporary
As one of their first tasks in the 1920s, the newly founded International Astronomical Union (IAU) established constellation standards. The Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte was assigned to the task to define borders of constellations parallel to lines of declination and right ascension. They were accepted by the General Assembly in 1928. The standardized names and abbreviations had already been accepted in 1922 and 1925.
