*-Orderings on a ring with involution

The object of the paper is to extend part of the theory of *-orderings on a skewfield with involution to a general ring with involution. The valuation associated to a *-ordering is examined. Every *-ordering is shown to extend. *-orderings are shown to form a space of signs as defined by Brocker and Marshall. In case the involution is the identity, the ring under consideration is commutative and the *-orderings are just the usual orderings making up the usual real spectrum of a commutative ring as defined by Coste and Roy.