Beta Scorpii (β Scorpii, abbreviated Beta Sco, β Sco) is a multiple star system in the southern zodiac constellation of Scorpius. It bore the traditional proper name of Acrab , though the International Astronomical Union now regards that name as applying only to the β Scorpii Aa component. Components Observed through a small telescope, Beta Scorpii appears as a binary star with a separation between the two components of 13.5 arcseconds and a combined apparent magnitude of 2.50. This pair, designated β¹ Scorpii and β² Scorpii, form the top branches of a hierarchy of six orbiting components. Hierarchy of orbits in the β Scorpii system β¹ Scorpii, the brighter of the pair, consists of two sub-components, designated β Scorpii A and β Scorpii B, orbiting at an angular separation of 0.3 arcseconds with an orbital period of 610 years. β Scorpii A is itself a spectroscopic binary, with the two components designated β Scorpii Aa (also named Acrab) and β Scorpii Ab. They are separated by 1.42 milliarcseconds and have an orbital period of 6.82 days. β² Scorpii also has two sub-components, designated β Scorpii C and β Scorpii E, orbiting at an angular separation of 0.1328 arcseconds with an orbital period of 39 years. β Scorpii E in turn is a spectroscopic binary with components designated β Scorpii Ea and β Scorpii Eb and having an orbital period of 10.7 days. Component β Scorpii D is the unrelated seventh magnitude star HD 144273, 520" away. Some authors have also referred to component Ab as D. A companion to component B, β Scorpii G, has been proposed to account for missing mass in the system, but no further evidence of its existence has been found. β Scorpii F refers to a theorised companion to component E. Nomenclature β Scorpii (Latinised to Beta Scorpii) is the star's Bayer designation; β¹ and β² Scorpii, those of its two components. The designations of the sub-components - β Scorpii A, Aa, Ab, B, C, E, Ea and Eb - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Beta Scorpii bore the traditional names Acrab, Akrab or Elacrab, all deriving from the Arabic name () al-'Aqrab 'the Scorpion' for the whole constellation, as well as Graffias , Italian for "the claws", a name it shared with Xi Scorpii. In 2016,