Antares
Red supergiant · Alpha Scorpii
Vast red supergiant, the heart of the Scorpion
Antares is a vast, cool red supergiant whose ruddy color and position in Scorpius long invited comparison with the planet Mars, the source of its name meaning 'rival of Ares.' If placed at the Sun's position its surface would extend out past the orbit of Mars.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
76 thousand ×
as bright as the Sun
3,660 K
surface · red
680 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
550 ly
from Earth
1.0
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 76 thousand times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 550 years to reach us, so you see Antares as it was 550 years ago.
Source · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Other notable stars in Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Stars of similar brightness
HV 2112Red supergiant (Thorne-Zytkow candidate)63 thousand ×SaiphBlue supergiant60 thousand ×BetelgeuseRed supergiant60 thousand ×Sanduleak -69° 202Blue supergiant (B3 Ia)100 thousand ×HadarBlue giant32 thousand ×AcruxBlue subgiant (multiple system)31 thousand ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→