# Larawag (Epsilon Scorpii)

Larawag (Epsilon Scorpii) is a star in the constellation Scorpius, magnitude 2.3.

**An orange giant in the Scorpion’s tail, with a Wardaman name meaning “clear sighting”.**

Larawag’s name comes from the Wardaman people of Australia’s Northern Territory, for whom it means “clear sighting”. The International Astronomical Union adopted it in 2017, bringing an Aboriginal Australian name into the official catalogue of the stars.

Larawag is an orange giant about 1.4 times the Sun’s mass and 13 times its width. Having finished with the hydrogen in its core, it now fuses helium there, which places it among the red clump giants, a common stage for orange giants. Its surface glows at about 4,500 kelvin, cooler than the Sun’s.

It also has company. In 2018 astronomers found a much smaller, fainter star moving with it through space, which makes Larawag a [binary](https://astropilot.space/glossary/double-star).

Larawag (Epsilon Scorpii) is 64 light-years away: the light we see from it set off in 1962, 5 years after Sputnik became the first artificial satellite.

## Did you know?

- **On Brazil’s flag.** Larawag is one of the stars on the flag of Brazil, where it represents the state of Ceará.
- **A misread name.** Patrick Moore gave its Chinese name as Wei, but that seems a misreading: Wěi, the Tail, is a whole asterism, and this star is its second star.

An orange 2nd-magnitude star south-east of Antares, past Tau Scorpii, where the Scorpion’s body curves into its tail. Compare its orange with Antares’s deeper red.

## When and where to see it

It is best placed in the evening sky around July, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in June). It can be seen from everywhere south of 56°N and never sets south of 56°S.

At its highest it stands 6° up from 50°N, 21° up from 35°N, 56° up from the equator, 89° up from 35°S.

## Facts

- Type: Star
- Constellation: Scorpius
- Designations: Epsilon Scorpii, ε Sco, 26 Sco, HR 6241, HD 151680, HIP 82396
- Magnitude: 2.3
- Position: RA 16h 50.2m, Dec −34° 18′ (J2000)
- Spectral type: K1III
- Colour: orange (B−V 1.16)
- Distance: 64 light-years
- Discovered: Known since antiquity

Open AstroPilot to see when Larawag (Epsilon Scorpii) is highest tonight from your location, how easy it is with your telescope or binoculars, and an eyepiece view. https://astropilot.space/object/larawag