Arcturus is also among the 

brightest stars that can

be seen from Earth.
The easiest way to spot Arcturus is by following the curve
of the "handle" of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). A simple
way to remember how to find the star is to recall the
famous phrase "Follow the arc to Arcturus and then speed
on to Spica." The latter part of that phrase refers to the
bright star Spica, which is actually a binary star. 
When viewed from Earth, it appears to be positioned almost at the
north galactic pole of the Milky Way.
Arcturus is moving rapidly (122 km/s) relative to the Sun, and is now
almost at its closest point to the Sun. Closest approach will happen in
about 4,000 years, when the star will be a few hundredths of a light-year
closer to Earth than it is today.
Orange Arcturus is more evolved than our sun and has swollen up to a
larger size. It’s less than 37 light-years away and appears as the brightest
star north of the celestial equator. The Big Dipper can help you find it.
The star Arcturus is easy to identify. Use the Big Dipper to “follow the arc to
Arcturus” and “drive a spike to Spica.”  Arcturus is the alpha star of a cone-shaped
constellation called Boötes the Herdsman. It’s far enough north on the sky’s dome that
– for Northern Hemisphere observers – it’s visible during some part of the night
throughout most of the year. There’s an easy mnemonic for remembering how to
identify this bright orange star. Just remember the phrase: follow the arc to Arcturus.

First, locate the Big Dipper in the northern sky. Notice that the handle of the Big
Dipper is a curve or arc. Extend this curve past the end of the Big Dipper’s handle,
and you will come to Arcturus.
You might notice bright orange Arcturus passing high overhead on late spring
evenings. In summer, Arcturus is high overhead shortly after dark. Autumn observers
need to look early because then it sets by mid-evening. The best time to observe it in
winter is in the wee hours before dawn.

Our chart below shows the constellation Boötes as you stand facing south on spring
evenings. Seeing a Herdsman in these stars might be difficult, but the constellation is
easy to imagine as a kite.

Arcturus and its constellation Boötes the Herdsman. Boötes has the shape of a kite,
and Arcturus is at the point where you’d attach a tail.

Arcturus is the brightest star north of the celestial equator. What does that mean?
Imagine that Earth’s equator can be projected onto the sky. This line above Earth’s
equator is called the celestial equator. It divides the sky into northern and southern
hemispheres, just as Earth’s equator does for Earth. The three brightest stars of the sky
– Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri – are south of the celestial equator. Meanwhile,
Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern part of the sky. It is only marginally
brighter than the Northern Hemisphere’s second-brightest star, Vega. To the eye,
Arcturus and Vega reign as co-stars in the northern half of the sky.
Johannes Hevelius drew Arcturus’ constellation Boötes in Uranographia, his celestial
catalogue in 1690. The view is mirrored following the tradition of celestial globes,
showing the celestial sphere in a view from “ouside.” Image via Wikimedia
Commons.

History and mythology of Arcturus. Arcturus’ constellation Boötes the Herdsman is

sometimes pictured as guarding the Great Bear, or Ursa Major, which contains the Big
Dipper asterism. We sometimes hear Arcturus called the Bear Guard.

In China, the constellation for which Arcturus is the chief star was sometimes called
the Dragon. In some classical Greek stories, Boötes was Icarus, who in another story
flew too close to the sun. Passing directly over the Hawaiian Islands, Arcturus was a
particularly important navigational star to the islands’ indigenous inhabitants and
other Polynesians.

The translation may be questioned, but Arcturus is among the few stars mentioned in
the Bible. (“Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the
south” – Job 9:9, and “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou
guide Arcturus with his sons?” – Job 38:32, KJV.)
One interesting story about Arcturus relates to the 1933 Century of Progress
Exhibition in Chicago. Its promoters wanted a flashy way to open the show, so they
decided to have the light from Arcturus pass through a telescope onto a photocell. The
photocell in turn worked as the switch that turned on the main spotlights to open the
exhibition. There had also been a World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, 40 years before
the 1933 show. At the time, astronomers thought that Arcturus was 40 light-
years away. So they thought that light left Arcturus at the end of the 1893 fair and
traveled for 40 years through space like an Olympic torch bearer, to open the 1933
show.

The promoters of Chicago’s World’s Fair had a great idea, but today’s astronomers
place the distance to Arcturus at just less than 37 light-years.

The red giant Arcturus is roughly 25 times the diameter of our sun. It’s not the largest
of the red giants, however, as this diagram shows. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Science of Arcturus. Arcturus is likely to be considerably older than our sun. When
the sun evolves to become a red giant, the sun might be a star much like Arcturus is
now.
Arcturus is roughly 25 times greater in diameter than our sun. Because of its larger
size, in visible light Arcturus radiates more than 100 times the light of our sun. If you
consider infrared and other forms of radiant energy, Arcturus is about 200 times more
powerful than the sun. Its mass is hard to exactly determine, but might be slightly
greater than that of our sun.

The reddish or orange color of Arcturus signifies its temperature, which is about 7,300
degrees Fahrenheit (around 4,000 Celsius). That makes it several thousand degrees
cooler than the surface of the sun.

The bright orange star Arcturus is especially noteworthy for its large proper motion,
or sideways motion, on the dome of Earth’s sky. Only Alpha Centauri – our sun’s
nearest neighbor among the stars – has a higher proper motion among the first-
magnitude, or bright, stars in our stellar neighborhood. And of course the large proper
motion of Alpha Centauri stems from the fact that it’s so relatively close to us.

In the meantime, what can the proper motion of Arcturus be telling us?

It tells us that Arcturus is actually moving at a tremendous rate of speed (122

km/second or 76 miles/s) relative to our solar system. Arcturus is thought to be an old
star. It appears to be moving with a group of at least 52 other such stars, known as
the Arcturus stream or Arcturus moving group.

From the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southern direction.
It’s now at about its closest point to Earth and will vanish from visibility to the
unaided eye when it reaches the Carina-Vela border in about 150,000 years.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

The position of Arcturus is RA: 14h 15 m 39.7s, dec: +19° 10′ 56″
Arcturus or Alpha Boötis (Alp Boo) is the brightest naked eye star in the constellation
Boötes the Herdsman. Photo via Fred Espenak at AstroPixels.

Bottom line: Arcturus is a red giant star (it appears more orange to the eye), roughly
25 times greater in diameter than our sun. It’s easy to find if you “follow the arc to
Arcturus.” That is, follow the curve in the Big Dipper’s handle until you spot this star.