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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:07 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:45
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All Constellations » Scorpius » 

Antares - α Scorpii (alpha Scorpii)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 22:27 | Tran: 1:54 | Set: 5:18
Alt: -53.42°   Az: 60.59°   Direction: East-North-East

Antares, also designated as α Scorpii (alpha Scorpii), is a variable and double supergiant star of spectral class M1 in the constellation of Scorpius.

Antares visual magnitude is 0.96, making it the 14th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Antares is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of Antares - α Scorpii (alpha Scorpii) star
DSS2 image of Antares. The red arrow shows the motion of Antares during the next 10000 years (-1.67 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.33 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 30m 58s
-26° 29’ 09”
14h 21m 49s
06h 52m 47s

J2000

16h 29m 24s
-26° 25’ 54”

Galactic Coordinates

351.95°
15.06°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for Antares - α Scorpii (alpha Scorpii).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

0.96
Supergiant

-5.38
M1I
3356K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where Antares is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of Antares. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Star System Properties

Antares is a visual double star which can be observed with the help of medium or large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the Antares double sysyem:

0.96
5.16
4.2
2.9 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Antares is distant 603.70 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 3 kilometers per second.

185.19
603.70
-3 km/s
-0.01 arcsec/y
-0.02"/y

Alternative Designations

Antares
α Scorpii
(alpha Scorpii)
SAO184415
SAO184415

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Antares - α Scorpii (alpha Scorpii) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 116.5°
Max altitude: 12.0°
Azimuth: 243.5°