• Antares Antares is a star in Scorpius. # ############### ##################### ######################### ########################### ############################# ############################### ############################### ################################# ############################### ############################### ############################# ########################### ######################### ##################### ############### # Type Red supergiant Constellation Scorpius Magnitude 1.0 Spectral type M1.5Iab-Ib+B4Ve Distance about 604 light years Double star components 2.9″ apart You need naked eye from a dark sky Known as Bayer α Sco Yale HR 6134 Physical Radius about 700 times the Sun More information about Antares The name is the Greek Ἀντάρης, "rival of Ares", Ares being the god the Romans called Mars, and that is exactly what the star looks like: a red supergiant sitting on the ecliptic, close enough in colour to be mistaken for the planet. You can tell the two apart only by watching which one moves against the stars over a few nights. Antares is roughly 700 times the width of the Sun, and like Betelgeuse it will end as a supernova. Etymology From Greek Reading Antares · Ἀντάρης Literally rival of Ares Bayer lettered the stars of each constellation in his Uranometria of 1603, in order of brightness. He was working from Tycho's magnitudes by eye, and the order he recorded is often wrong. First published in 1930 by Yale astronomer Frank Schlesinger, and maintained since, the Yale Bright Star Catalogue lists every star down to magnitude 6.5. It contains 9,110 stars. where it is tonight: skymap.sh/Antares