Brightest Stars

Elnath is the second-brightest star in Taurus the Bull. It’s the closest bright star to the galactic anticenter – the point in space that lies directly opposite of the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

We see Capella as the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. It is really two stars, each with a golden color similar to our sun.

We could not live as close to Rigel as we live to our sun, because Rigel is nearly twice as hot – and about 40,000 times brighter – than our local star.

If Aldebaran were placed where the sun is now, its surface would extend almost to the orbit of Mercury.

On (or around) Halloween, look for Algol – a star named for a demon!

Arcturus is cutting perpendicularly through the galactic disk at a tremendous rate of speed – some 150 kilometers per second.

Spica is a binary star, with two stars larger and hotter than the sun, telescopically indistinguishable from a single point of light.

You can see Alphard – the Heart of the constellation Hydra the Water Snake – in the evening in March, April, and May.

Procyon – in Canis Minor the Lesser Dog – actually means “before the dog.” That’s because it rises into the sky shortly before the Dog Star Sirius in Canis Major.