Libra

Abbreviation: Lib
Genitive: Librae
Right Ascension: 15.21 hours
Declination: -15.59 degrees

Libra, the Scales, can be found between Scorpius and Virgo, Libra is the age old symbol of justice, harmony and balance.

It is interesting that to the Italians, French, Germans, Anglo-Saxons, and Romans the constellation was the scales.

The early Greeks did not recognize Libra as the scales, but included it as the claws of the scorpion. Credit is usually given to the Romans for creating this constellation as a sign of the autumnal equinox. The constellation first appeared in the Julian calendar in 46 B.C. The constellation appears again in 43 B.C. in which a comet appeared during the same year as Caesar's assassination, the writing indicates the comet took his soul to heaven, this comet may very well be the same one seen in 531, 1106 and 1680; its next apparition will be 2255.

However, the Egyptians, Hebrews, Persians and Syrians all had it on their planetspheres and called the constellation the 'weigh beam' or scale beam. The Arabs followed the greeks including it as part of the scorpions claws.

Bright Stars | Deep Sky | Other Deep Sky | Variable Stars | Double Stars

Best Known Stars

(Yale Bright Star Catalog)

Common Name or Bayer Number 1	RA	DEC	Magnitude 2
ZUBENESCHAMALI	15.00:17.00:0.42	-9.00:22.00:58.54	2.61
ZUBENELGENUBI	14.00:50.00:52.71	-16.00:2.00:30.42	2.75
SIG LIB	15.00:4.00:4.21	-25.00:16.00:55.12	3.29
UPS LIB	15.00:37.00:1.46	-28.00:8.00:6.15	3.58
GAM LIB	15.00:35.00:31.57	-14.00:47.00:22.40	3.91
IOT LIB	15.00:12.00:13.28	-19.00:47.00:30.26	4.54

Deep Sky Objects

(PAS Catalog)

Other Deep Sky Objects

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)

Only Objects less than 10.0 Mag.

Object	R.A.	Dec.	Object Type 3	Mag.	Uranometria	Tirion
NGC 5897	15 17.4	-21 01	GLOCL	08.6	334	21

Variable Stars

(General Catalog of Variable Stars)

Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude

GCVS ID	R.A. (hh mm ss.ss)	Dec. (deg mm ss)	Variable Type 4	Mag. Min	Mag. Max
ES Lib	15.00:14.00:3.10	-12.00:51.00:22.00	EB/KE	7.57	7.10
FX Lib	15.00:55.00:23.10	-14.00:8.00:12.00	GCAS	4.96	4.74
FY Lib	14.00:55.00:2.60	-12.00:14.00:15.00	SRB	7.78	7.06
FZ Lib	15.00:16.00:39.90	-8.00:57.00:55.00	LB	7.24	6.73
GG Lib	15.00:29.00:17.80	-23.00:42.00:41.00	SR:	6.93	6.83
GX Lib	15.00:20.00:46.30	-6.00:25.00:54.00	RS	0.08	7.31
GZ Lib	15.00:26.00:44.70	-17.00:16.00:11.00	ACVO	6.71	6.66
HI Lib	15.00:6.00:16.70	-13.00:48.00:35.00	ACVO	0.00	7.48
HL Lib	14.00:27.00:50.10	-22.00:14.00:22.00	ELL:	7.02	6.93
HM Lib	15.00:24.00:50.00	-24.00:59.00:47.00	SR:	7.63	7.42
del Lib	14.00:58.00:17.80	-8.00:19.00:18.00	EA/SD	5.90	4.91
sig Lib	15.00:1.00:8.20	-25.00:5.00:12.00	SRB	3.46	3.20

Double Stars

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)

Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude

Name	R.A. (hh mm.m)	Dec. (deg mm)	Mag 5	Sep 6	PA 7	Tirion	Uranometria
SHJ 179	14 25.5	-19 58	6.4, 7.3	35.10	296	14	332
BU 106	14 49.3	-14 09	5.8, 6.7	1.90	335	14	288
SHJ 186	14 50.8	-16 01	2.9, 5.3	231.00	314	14	288
LAL 123	15 33.1	-24 29	7.5, 7.5	9.10	300	21	334
STF 1962	15 38.7	-08 47	6.5, 6.6	11.90	189	14/ 15	289
BU 122	15 39.9	-19 46	7.6, 7.8	1.80	223	14/ 15	334