ABSTRACT
Libra is one of the least imposing of the Zodiacal constellations. Its leading stars are Beta; Alpha ; the orange Sigma and Gamma. Sigma, with Upsilon and Tau was once included in Scorpius, as the Scorpion’s Claws; on some older maps it appears as Gamma Scorpii. Alpha makes up a very wide pair with its neighbour Alpha; the pair can be well seen with binoculars, since they are over 230 seconds of arc apart. Delta Librae, above and to the right of Beta on the map, is an Algol-type eclipsing binary; it has a range of no more than one magnitude, and a period of 2.3 days. 48 Librae is a shell star, encircled by an outer ring of gases which occasionally shows violent expansion, causing interesting spectral changes though very little change in light output.
