Constellation Project:

         Scorpius is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and is most visible in Washington in July and throughout the rest of the summer, can be seen by viewers located at latitudes of 42⁰ and above and is usually seen just above the horizon. Some of the five brightest stars of Scorpius are Antares, Graffias, Dschubba, Sargas and Shaula. The brightest star is Antares which is a red supergiant with an M1 spectral classification, an apparent magnitude of 0.9 and a distance from the earth of 520 light years. Graffias is the actually the sixth brightest star in this constellation though it is given the title of beta because of its position in the constellation and is actually the combination of two stars, Beta-1 and Beta-2. Beta-1 has a magnitude of 2.62 and Beta-2 has a magnitude of 4.92. Both stars in Graffias are 530 light years away which 2200 astronomical units apart, are class B stars and appear bluish-white to the eye.
        The third star in Scorpius is Dschubba which is a spectral type B0.2 IV star, has an apparent magnitude of 2.29 and a distance of 400 light years. The fourth star is Sargas which can be found 270 light years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 1.86 and is a spectral type F1II star. Shaula is the fifth brightest star in Scorpius and is a bluish-white star of spectral class B1 V, has an apparent magnitude of 1.62 and is 300 light years away from Earth. Some other objects contained in Scorpius include open clusters Messier 6 and 7 and globular clusters Messier 4 and 80 and the star U Scorpii which is the fastest nova with a period of around 10 years.