What is Antares?
{{about|the star|the telescope|Antares Telescope}} [[File:Scorpius constellation map.svg |thumb|right| 230px|Location of Antares in Scorpius.]] '''Antares''' (α Scorpii, [[Bayer designation|Alpha]] Scorpii) is a [[Red giant|red supergiant]] [[star]] in the [[Milky Way]] [[galaxy]] and [[list of brightest stars|the sixteenth brightest star]] in the nighttime sky. It is listed as 15th or 16th brightest, depending on how the two brighter components of the [[Capella]] quadruple star system are counted. Antares is the brightest and most massive star in the [[Scorpius-Centaurus Association]]. The Scorpius-Centaurus Association contains thousands of stars with a [[mean]] age of 11 million years.<ref>Pecaut, Mark J. ''et al'' 2012. A revised age for Upper Scorpius and the star formation history among the F-type members of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB Association. ''Astrophysical Journal'' '''746''' (2): 154 [http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/746/2/154/].</ref> Antares has a secondary, or companion star, '''Antares B'''. The orbit of the companion star and its properties are not properly known, with an estimated period of 1,200 to 2,562 years. Antares has a [[radius]] of about 600 to 800 times that of the [[Sun]]. This gives Antares a diameter between 835 million to 1.114 billion kilometers in size. If Antares was placed in the center of our [[solar system]], its outer surface would lie between the [[orbits]] of [[Mars]] and [[Jupiter]], in the [[asteroid belt]]. Antares is about 550 light-years (or 170 parsecs) from the Earth. Its visual luminosity is about 10,000 times that of the Sun. Because the star radiates much of its energy in the [[infrared]] part of the spectrum, the [[bolometric magnitude|bolometric luminosity]] is about 65,000 times that of the Sun.<ref>Schaaf, Fred 2008. ''The brightest stars: discovering the Universe through the sky's most brilliant stars''. Wiley. p. 218. {{ISBN|978-0-471-70410-2}}</ref> The [[mass]] of the star is in the range of 15 to 18 solar masses. Antares is one of the first red su