The star Antares or Cor Scorpionis is one of the most beautiful of the red stars.  It has been termed the Sirius of red stars, a term better merited perhaps by Aldebaran, save for this that, in our latitude, Antares is, like Sirius, always seen as a brilliant “scintillator” (because always low down), whereas Aldebaran rises high above the horizon.  Antares is a double star, its companion being a minute green star.  In southern latitudes the companion of Antares may be seen with a good 4-inch, but in our latitudes a larger opening is wanted.  Mr. Dawes once saw the companion of Antares shining alone for seven seconds, the primary being hidden by the moon.  He found that the colour of the secondary is not merely the effect of contrast, but that this small star is really a green sun.

The star [beta] Scorpionis is a fine double, the components 13".1 apart, their magnitudes 2 and 5-1/2, colours white and lilac.  It has been supposed that this pair is only an optical double, but a long time must elapse before a decisive opinion can be pronounced on such a point.

The star [sigma] Scorpionis is a wider but much more difficult double, the smaller component being below the 9th magnitude.  The colour of the primary (4) is white, that of the secondary maroon.

The star [xi] Scorpionis is a neat double, the components 7".2 apart, their magnitudes 4-1/2 and 7-1/2, their colours white and grey.  This star is really triple, a fifth-magnitude star lying close to the primary.

In Ophiuchus, a constellation covering a wide space immediately above Scorpio, there are several fine doubles.  Among others—­

39 Ophiuchi, distance between components 12".1, their magnitudes 5-1/2 and 7-1/2, their colours orange and blue.

The star 70 Ophiuchi, a fourth-magnitude star on the right shoulder of Ophiuchus, is a noted double.  The distance between the components about 5-1/2”, their magnitudes 4-1/2 and 7, the colours yellow and red.  The pair form a system whose period of revolution is about 95 years.

36 Ophiuchi (variable), distance 5".2, magnitudes 4-1/2 and 6-1/2, colours red and yellow.

[rho] Opiuchi, distance 4”, colours yellow and blue, magnitudes 5 and 7.

Between [alpha] and [beta] Scorpionis the fine nebula 80 M may be looked for. (Or more closely thus:—­below [beta] is the wide Double [omega]^{1} and [omega]^{2} Scorpionis; about as far to the right of Antares is the star [sigma] Scorpionis, and immediately above this is the fifth-magnitude star 19.) The nebula we seek lies between 19 and [omega], nearer to 19 (about two-fifths of the way towards [omega]).  This nebula is described by Sir W. Herschel as “the richest and most condensed mass of stars which the firmament offers to the contemplation of astronomers.”