As a far southern constellation, Ara is today almost invisible from Europe at any time of the year. Between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago, though, it was clearly visible from southern Europe and northern Africa during the summer months. The Greeks of that time called it Thytérion or Thysiastérion, the Altar of Sacrifice, perhaps because it rose in the sky at a propitious time of the year. This tradition was inherited by the Romans, who gave the constellation the name we know today: 'Ara' is the Latin word for 'Altar'.

There are few bright stars in this region of the sky. The two brightest, Alpha and Beta Arae, are coincidentally almost exactly the same magnitude of +2.8. Though the Beta star is almost 400 light years beyond the Alpha, it is much more luminous.

Some of Ara's stars are very distant: both Gamma Arae and Theta Arae lie more than 1,000 light years away, but both of these stars are brilliant supergiants, and so are clearly visible to the naked eye of an observer on Earth.

The most notable cluster in Ara is a Globular group that lies somewhat 'below' the plane of the galactic disc. NGC 6397 is a fairly loose ball of stars lying approximately 7,000 light years (about 2,000 parsecs) from Earth's Solar System.

A little nearer to Earth, at about 4,500 light years distance, is an open star cluster, NGC 6193. This is quite a young cluster on a cosmic timescale, and still surrounded by much of its original nebulous material.