44 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE JULY 2016
Tonight’s sky
Hooked on Scorpius
The giant stellar arachnid means different things to different people.
H
igh overhead in the mid-
to late-evening at this
time of the year, rides the
magnificent spectacle that is the
constellation Scorpius. One of the few
star groupings to actually resemble
the creature, god or item it is meant
to represent, Scorpius is certainly
one of the most recognisable of
the 88 modern constellations. And
we’re fortunate indeed, here in the
south, to have it perfectly placed for
our viewing pleasure.
Wedged between Sagittarius
to the east and Libra to the west,
Scorpius encompasses a rich region
of the Milky Way, full of star fields,
star clusters and nebulae, making
it a fabulous target for either
binocular or telescopic observation.
You’ll find the open clusters
Messier 6 and Messier 7 — both
of which can been glimpsed by
the naked eye under dark skies —
and the globular clusters Messier
4 and Messier 80, plus plenty
more besides.
Scorpius’ brightest star, Antares,
is a red supergiant hundreds of
times the size of our Sun. So even
though it is located about 550
light-years away, it’s still the 15th
brightest star in the night sky. The
name Antares means ‘rival of Mars’
or ‘like Mars,’ due to the star’s red
colouring. This rivalry was on show
over the past couple of months, as
Mars crept slowly through Scorpius
on its way into Libra. (Saturn has
been nearby, too.)
The traditional Greek mythology
tells us the scorpion used its
sting to kill Orion, the hunter.
Depending on which exact myth
you choose, the fatal sting came
about because Orion tried to ravish
Artemis, who sent the scorpiontogethim...or,Earthsentthe
arachnid assassin to kill Orion
afterhehadbraggedthathe,
the great hunter, could slay any
animal. Either way, it was curtains
forOrion.Withthetwoofthem
not on the best of terms, then, it’s
no wonder they were placed as
far apart on the sky as could be
managed—asOrionsetsinthe
west, Scorpius rises in the east.
Imentionedabovethatthe
shape of Scorpius clearly matches
that of a scorpion. And to stargazers
inmanypartsoftheworldthisis
certainlytrue.ButnottotheMori
people of New Zealand. You see,
there are no scorpions in the ‘land
ofthelongwhitecloud’.Sotothe
Mori it represents something else
entirely. To them, the scorpion’s
tail is a fish hook. They call it Te
Matau a Maui, ‘the fish hook of
Maui’. And the curved body is TeWaka o Mairerangi, ‘the canoe of
Mairerangi’.
Legend has it that Maui’s
brothers sailed out into the
ocean to fish. Maui, being a bit
of a prankster, had made the fish
vanish and appeared before his
brothers to gloat. They tried to
continue fishing but wouldn’t give
him any bait. Enraged, he grabbed
a magical jawbone that he just
happened to have handy, smeared
it with some of his own blood, and
cast it into the deep as a fishhook.
It caught on something. Maui
heaved and pulled, and eventually
up came a giant fish. His brothers
hacked at it and it turned into
stone, becoming New Zealand’s
rocky and rugged North Island.
Maui was so impressed with his
day’s efforts that he slung the
fishhook into the heavens, where it
will remain forever more. ✦Scorpius, as depicted in Alexander Jamieson’s Celestial Atlas of 1822.JONATHAN NALLY