Antares

stars · constellations · giant stars · red supergiants

The scorpion's heart. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, and people call it 'the heart of the scorpion' because of where it sits in the star pattern. It's easy to spot because of its distinctive reddish color when you look up at the night sky.

A red giant star. Antares is enormous, much bigger than our Sun, and it shines with a reddish glow that makes it stand out from other stars. This color comes from the star being old and cool compared to younger, hotter stars.

Fifteenth brightest. On average, Antares is the fifteenth-brightest star visible from Earth without a telescope. Even though it's one of the brightest stars in our sky, its brightness changes a little bit over time, ranging between being slightly brighter and slightly dimmer.

550 light-years away. Antares is located about 550 light-years from Earth, which means its light takes 550 years to reach us. It's part of a nearby group of young stars called the Scorpius-Centaurus association, which is the closest group of its kind to our solar system.

Lighting up space dust. The light from Antares shines on clouds of gas and dust in space near it, called the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. This helps astronomers see and study what's happening in that region of space.