Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, as pointed out with a green laser pointer by Jan Wojcik, director of Reynolds Observatory. Image Credit: Kyle Foley

There’s a constellation on this chart that’s easy to see on the sky’s dome, if your sky is dark enough. Corona Borealis – doesn’t look like much on this chart, but in a dark sky it’s exciting to find – an almost-perfect semi-circle of stars.

Corona Borealis is also known as the Northern Crown. It’ll be arcing across the sky in the evening from now – mid-May – until about September.

The constellation Corona Borealis is located more or less along a line between two bright stars, Arcturus in the constellation Bootes the Herdsman and Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp. In the east-northeast in mid-evening, you’ll see Arcturus fairly high in the east, noticeable for its brightness and yellow-orange color. Vega will be low on the northeastern horizon – bright and blue-white in color. The Northern Crown is more or less between these two bright stars. It’s a semi-circle of stars – very noticeable in a dark sky.

The C-shaped constellation Corona Borealis shines between the constellations Bootes and Hercules. View larger

Alphecca: Northern Crown’s Brightest Star

The brightest star in Corona Borealis is Alphecca, also known as Gemma, sometimes called the Pearl of the Crown. The name Alphecca originated with a description of Corona Borealis as the “broken one,” in reference to the fact that these stars appear in a semi-circle, rather than a full circle. Alphecca is a blue-white star, with an intrinsic luminosity some 60 times that of our sun. It’s located about 75 light-years from Earth.

Stellar luminosity: The true brightnesses of stars

Look for the Northern Crown between the brilliant stars Arcturus and Vega tonight!