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Antares Colours & Palettes

Stars · Star

A star whose effective temperature has been measured as about 3,660 K. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.

Colour calculated from the documented model #FFCB94
Calculated blackbody colour at 3,660 K Calculated visible-colour model

About Antares

A star whose effective temperature has been measured as about 3,660 K.

Facts, with what each measures
ClassificationStar
Identifiersα Scorpii
Spectral typeM1.5Iab+B2Vnspectral type (SIMBAD * alf Sco; ref 2021A&A...646A..11M) · CDS, Strasbourg
Effective temperature3,660 K ± 120 Keffective temperature (photosphere) · Astronomy & Astrophysics / arXiv
Distance554 light-years ± 94 light-yearsdistance from parallax 5.89 ± 1 mas (SIMBAD; ref 2007A&A...474..653V) · CDS, Strasbourg

Why these colours?

Calculated blackbody colour at 3,660 K

The colour a perfect blackbody at 3,660 K would have, calculated with the CIE 1931 2° observer and shown as chromaticity only, so the brightest channel is full. A real star’s spectrum has absorption lines and is not a perfect blackbody, so this is a model, not a photograph.

From: Calculated blackbody colour at 3,660 K Calculated visible-colour model

Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.

Colours from selected views

Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Antares.

Calculated blackbody colour at 3,660 K

Calculated from this model · Calculated blackbody colour at 3,660 K

  • #FFCB94RGB 255, 203, 148region average
See where these colours came from
  • View: Calculated blackbody colour at 3,660 K (Calculated visible-colour model)
  • Calculated chromaticity (CIE 1931 2°, x 0.3967, y 0.38623); brightest channel full; optics engine 1.1.0.

Creative palettes inspired by Antares

A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.

Inspired by Antares

Inspired by this object

  • #5F411ERGB 95, 65, 30from #FFCB94
  • #B5844FRGB 181, 132, 79from #FFCB94
  • #FFD6ABRGB 255, 214, 171from #FFCB94

Colours of the first view of Antares with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.

Explore the views and the 3D model

The colour a perfect blackbody at 3,660 K would have, calculated with the CIE 1931 2° observer and shown as chromaticity only, so the brightest channel is full. A real star’s spectrum has absorption lines and is not a perfect blackbody, so this is a model, not a photograph. Chromaticity only: brightness and the glare of a real star are not shown. Blackbody approximation; line blanketing and limb darkening are ignored.

Schematic sphere A plain sphere tinted with the anchor colour of the named view; it shows no surface detail and no measured shape. Objects are enlarged or scaled for inspection unless stated otherwise.

Use these colours

Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.

Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.

Sources

Image credits

    Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision c43665e56649. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.

    More stars · View Antares in the universe map