Week of June 26-July 2, 2016

Late in the evenings during June we can easily see one of the great celestial symbols of summertime. Look low toward the southern sky after dark, and you'll spot the long, curving arc of Scorpius, the scorpion.

You will easily notice the bright, reddish-orange star Antares twinkling wildly as its light bounces through much more turbulent air low in the sky. Right now the planets Mars and Saturn appear nearby, though their positions will change over the next few months as they (and we) orbit the sun.

Antares marks the heart of the celestial arachnid, one of the most recognizable stellar groupings in the heavens. Several bright stars outline its claws at the top, a long, curving stellar arc traces its tail and at its very end two stars even form its dreaded stinger.

Antares and Scorpius have a long and fascinating history. In about 3,000 BC, Antares was considered one of the four royal stars of ancient Persia. Some suggest it may have even represented the "lance star" referred to in the Biblical Book of Job.

The scorpion image is one of the oldest of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and it appears in inscriptions predating the 3,000 B.C. This outline was not always interpreted as a scorpion, however. Ancient Chinese sky watchers viewed this star grouping as a major portion of the large and regal figure of the Azure Dragon of the East. And, islanders of the South Pacific saw it as a giant fishhook.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Scorpius represented the creature whose sting caused the death of the great hunter Orion, a prominent celestial symbol of winter. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that whenever you see Scorpius in the sky Orion is nowhere to be found. This is because — so the story goes — when the gods placed these constellations in the heavens, they separated the two figures to prevent them from stirring up trouble. Lillian White Spencer wrote about this wise move in her poem "Scorpio": "One summer's south horizon, he/ Crawls in bright, baleful majesty:/ Antares is his old red heart./ He slew Orion with his sting/ And since he did that horrid thing/ They circle heaven far apart."

If you have a dark sky, scan this region of the heavens with binoculars or a small telescope, and you'll be astounded by all you can see. For example, just to the west of Antares lies a fuzzy spot of light that astronomers known as M4. It's a great globular star cluster — one of the nearest in the sky. In fact, it's only some 7,200 light-years from Earth.

Just above and to the east of the scorpion's stinger we find two beautiful open star clusters: M6 (the Butterfly Cluster) and M7 (the Ptolemy Cluster). These are just a few of the many deep-sky objects visible in this area.

What a marvelous region of celestial real estate we have in our evening sky right now. If you do nothing else this summer, get out at night, lie on the cool grass and make friends with Scorpius.

Look up to see the celestial arachnid this June.

Visit Dennis Mammana at www.dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.