The scorpion lurks low in the southwest. Perhaps he is looking for Orion, perhaps he is just looking for someone else with an ego problem. He is easy to spot. And deep within his chest, beating with the pulse of the cosmos, are two red hearts.

      Scorpius is an ancient constellation representing the scorpion sent to Earth by the gods to punish Orion. Orion was a great hunter, with an ego to match. He loved to hunt and loved to boast about how good he was. Eventually the gods decided two things, first that Orion was killing off too many of the creatures, and secondly , they were tired of his blasted bragging.

      In those days, the gods were touchy beings, easily angered and rather extreme with their wrath. In Orion's case, they sent Scorpius to punish him. It worked well. Orion never  thought of a small scorpion as a threat and didn't even notice him until Scorpius stung Orion's foot, then it was too late.

      As Orion lay dying from the poisonous sting, the gods, perhaps  now in a better mood, decided to take pity and placed Orion in the sky. Then, on the perchance Orion decided to do some celestial boasting, they placed the scorpion in the sky. Orion got upset all over again at this idea and finally the gods agreed to place them in opposite areas of the sky, they would never be seen in the sky at the same time. And so Scorpius graces our summer and autumn skies and Orion rules the winter skies.

     Scorpius is one of the constellations that really does look like a scorpion with just the slightest imagination needed. The group of stars is marked by Antares, the bright red star that marks the heart of the scorpion. The scorpion's claws are outstretched before him and his tail curves around over his back. Part of the Milky Way runs through Scorpius.

     Antares is a bloated red supergiant star, elderly in age, and soon, one day to explode as a supernova. Ironically, there are only two really bright red stars of this type that we can see in our skies. The other is Betelgeuse, in Orion.

      Antares is noticeably red, so red in fact that the Romans named it Antares, which means "the rival of Mars."  It can easily be mistaken for the red planet, and particularly so this month because around October 6th, Mars is very close to Antares in the sky. Just after sunset look to the southwestern sky. The first thing you are likely to notice is Venus, which is the most brilliant thing in the entire sky. Antares and Mars are close by.

     Throughout the month Mars and Venus lurk around this area of the sky. On the nights of the 5th and 6th, the crescent moon passes right by both Mars and Venus. Venus passes only 2 degrees from Antares on the nights of October 16th and 17th. And on the night of October 26th, Venus passes only 2 degrees from Mars. It will be easy to see the color contrast between white Venus and rust colored Mars. Watch the autumn dance of the two planets and the heart of the scorpion.