Soaring through July skies is an ancient arachnid known for its sting. Scorpius the Scorpion, with its distinctive curved spine and stinger poised to strike, holds a large profile low to the southern horizon. Its Latin name translates to the “creature with the burning sting.”

A jewel of this distinctive and easy-to-spot constellation is the Scorpion’s ruby red heart, Antares. This enormous red giant star’s diameter is more than 700 times that of our sun. Since Scorpius is situated in the direction of the dense center of the Milky Way galaxy, there are many treats to observe for telescope and binocular enthusiasts. Only 1.3 degrees west of Antares, is a globular star cluster known as M4 (Messier 4) or NGC 6121. Also known as the “Spider Globular Cluster,” it is the closest globular cluster to Earth. Just barely visible to the unaided eye, it was discovered in 1746 by Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Cheseaux. M4 holds the distinction as the first globular cluster in which individual stars were revealed. Within this gravitationally bound city of immensely old stars, is perhaps the oldest exoplanet yet found. NASA states the exoplanet, “Methuselah,” could be nearly 13 billion years old.

Hawaiian legend calls Scorpius, Maui’s Fishhook. Demigod Maui’s magic fishhook snagged rocks from the ocean depths and pulled up islands that became known as Hawaii.