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Scorpius
Look due south at 11 p.m. on July 1 and you’ll be met with a most ominous sight. Scorpius will be visible—its head and claws pointing west and its tail curving first south and then curling to the east. Near the heart of the scorpion lies the bright amber star Antares (“rival of Mars”). When rising or setting, Antares appears even redder than Mars and flickers dramatically because of dust and turbulence in the atmosphere.
Toward the end of the month, high in the southeast, three stars in three different constellations will be visible. Easy to pick out because of their brightness, Vega, Deneb, and Altair are the three corners of the triangle. Vega is in the constellation Lyra, Deneb is the tail of Cygnus the Swan, and Altair is in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. Together they make up the summer triangle.
Near the Heart of the Scorpion
Look to the south to find Antares, the bright amber-colored star in Scorpius. Very near Antares is an object known as M4, the fourth object catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier. It is a globular cluster of thousands of stars. M4 is just to the right (west) of Antares by about one degree. Try to spot it using a small telescope or pair of binoculars.
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The Summer Triangle
