Libra constellation
Latin Libra, genitive Librae, abbreviation Lib
North up, east to the left, as you see the sky. The lines are a common figure; the stars are from the catalogue.
The myth
For the Greeks these stars were the claws of the Scorpion; the Romans made scales of them, the only zodiac constellation that shows no living being. Its stars are still called the northern and southern claw. When the zodiac was laid out, the sun stood here at the September equinox: day and night in balance.
When can Libra be seen?
It stands highest around 10 pm in June. It can be seen from everywhere south of 61°N, and it never sets south of 81°S.
The brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zubeneschamali | β Lib | 2.61 | bluish |
| Zubenelgenubi | α2 Lib | 2.75 | white |
| Brachium | σ Lib | 3.29 | reddish |
| – | υ Lib | 3.58 | orange |
| – | τ Lib | 3.66 | bluish |
| Zubenelhakrabi | γ Lib | 3.91 | orange |
| – | θ Lib | 4.15 | orange |
| – | 16 Lib | 4.49 | yellowish white |
The smaller the number, the brighter: below 1 are the brightest stars of the sky, 4 is hard to see under a city sky. Greek letters after Johann Bayer (1603).
Constellation and zodiac sign
The constellation Libra and the zodiac sign of the same name are not the same. The signs divide the Sun's path into twelve equal parts of 30 degrees, counted from the vernal equinox; the constellations differ in size, and because the Earth's axis slowly wobbles, they now lie almost one sign further on.